Articles for tag: C.S. Lewis

We Believe Jesus Is Lord

By John Caldwell The first song I ever learned was “Jesus Loves Me.” The first Bible verse I memorized was John 3:16. I preached my first sermon on that same text; it lasted 10 minutes. When I began my ministry with the infant Kingsway Christian Church, my first sermon was simply entitled “Jesus.” When I retired from that ministry 36 years later, my sermon was “It’s Still Jesus.” If you call me a “Jesus freak,” I’ll consider it a badge of honor. But who is this Jesus? The answer to that question is more important than anything else. Jesus raised

May 15, 2019

News & Updates

Churches Donate 3 Tons of Pennies to Camp (Plus News Briefs)

Compiled by Chris Moon and Jim Nieman Lake Springfield Christian Assembly in Chatham, Ill., is learning the power of the penny. The Christian camp has collected a million pennies from 26 churches during the past two months to help generate funds to acquire an additional 2.7 acres of land. The $10,000 in pennies were put on display in a large bin at the camp; they weighed 6,000 pounds. “(The lesson here) is that every penny counts, especially when you’re a 501(c)(3),” camp manager Kerma Yotter told the State Journal-Register. “What’s more amazing, and we see it all the time, is God’s provision through his faithful

May 29, 2018

Bible Study Theology & Bible

Christian Living

Sinner Anonymous

By Gene Shelburne As God’s people, we have one common bond: All of us have brought our sins to Jesus. And that is what brings us around his table. How sad, then, that many of us spend so much energy trying to conceal our sinfulness! Why does the church often become an exercise in pretending we are perfect? The late Bishop Fulton J. Sheen said, “The modern world does not believe in sin. . . . It used to be that we Catholics were the only ones in the world who believed in the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.

May 28, 2018

Mark Scott

Lesson for June 3, 2018: Justice and Sabbath Laws (Matthew 12:1-14)

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. 5 (weeks 21–24; May 27—June 17, 2018) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis wrote about the law of fair play. It goes like this. “I gave you a bite of my orange; give me a bite of yours.” Or, “Don’t hit me; I didn’t hit you.” From where did such laws arise? They seem to be innate. It

December 11, 2016

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

November 23, 2016

Devotionals

Days of Beauty

By Jim Tune A few of my friends have been participating in a project called “Days of Gratitude.” In an effort to be mindful of their blessings, each day they record, usually on social media, something for which they are grateful. It”s a useful exercise, and some have said the daily habit is having a positive effect on their disposition. On Canadian Thanksgiving (yes, Canadians have their own annual holiday on the second Monday of October), I decided to do something similar. My journey was to recognize and appreciate something beautiful every day for 30 days. I confess that this

October 6, 2016

Culture & Public Square Politics & Government

Can I Be a Christian and a Patriot?

Four biblical principles about our earthly citizenship By Matt Proctor Full confession: I love America. I was born on an overseas U.S. Army base where my father served, and I respect the office of president, sing the national anthem, salute the flag, and own the movie Captain America. But my study of God”s Word has led me to decide how I should view my love of country in terms of my higher calling. Two summers ago, I took my 10- and 12-year-old sons on a weeklong U.S. history tour. We imagined being an immigrant at Ellis Island, marveled at the

February 18, 2016

My Theology and My Attitude Toward My Kids” Rooms

By Jason Yeatts My view of theology changed two years ago. For most of my life, I considered theology an academic discipline, reserved mainly for those smart enough to handle it. But two years ago, I realized something was missing. My kids were getting older, and I was discovering that the theological information locked in my brain was quite powerless when I brought it into my living room, kitchen, and bedroom””the intimate places of my home. Theology seemed disconnected from my real life, and I struggled to understand how it could, and should, affect my day-to-day comings and goings. Helped

February 12, 2016

My Theology and My Approach to Pain

By Mandy Smith There are many ways we can horrify our dentists. I horrified mine last month by saying, “It”s OK if I have to live with the pain.” It was unthinkable for him, but in spite of his best efforts, I”m still left with a dull ache when I bite into an apple. I”m OK with that. We have become intolerant of pain””physical, emotional, and spiritual. Does that deny the opportunity God sees in pain? As a pastor, I often walk with people along the edge of emotional and spiritual pain. As they see it coming, it”s natural to

July 28, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Christian Living

Calm in the Chaos

By Mark A. Taylor How shall we react in times that seem to become more unsettled every week? In a society besieged by gun violence, in a culture increasingly fragmented by political division, in a world where peace seems impossible and conflict far away breeds pain and destruction close to home, what should be the Christian”s outlook? When the media celebrates and the government certifies rights we believe God forbids, and when Christian leaders struggle to find middle ground between the extremes of permissiveness and legalism, where will we take our stand? In blog posts and coffee shop conversations all

July 25, 2015

Church & Ministry Leadership Development

Jeff Walling’s Thought Leaders

We asked 35 Christian leaders, “Who is the influencer with the biggest impact on your life and ministry?” Most of these leaders listed severalÂ influential thinkers, writers, innovators, and leaders more of us should get to know. This response is fromÂ Jeff Walling, founding director of the Youth Leadership Initiative at Pepperdine University, Malibu, California. ________ The thoughts and writings of Tim Keller, John Ortberg, Bob Goff, Thomas Merton, and C.S. Lewis have all been recently impacting how I think about Scripture. While hardly a new name among Christian authors, C.S. Lewis”s words still vibrate with deep spirituality and practical wisdom. Lewis

April 29, 2015

Christian Living

Human

By Jim Tune In C.S. Lewis”s book The Magician”s Nephew, readers meet an unsavory character named Uncle Andrew, who consistently displays an arrogance that causes him to distance himself from others, view them with contempt, and attempt to use them for his own purposes. Near the end of the book, when Uncle Andrew encounters things he can”t fathom or explain (like talking animals) he descends into insanity. Aslan and the other animals are speaking to him in plain English, but he can”t understand a word. All he hears are roars and growls, and he is terrified. Finally, he loses his

April 12, 2015

Care & Counseling Grief & Suffering

How Should Christians Suffer?

By Mark W. Hamilton The Bible helps us answer the question. A good beginning point is in the psalms of lament. Pain and suffering. This word pair names one of the most difficult problems facing Christian faith and practice today. Some Christians seek to dodge the problem by imagining that suffering always marks the presence of sin and that God, because he is good, wishes us to escape pain in all instances. This despite the obvious facts that the pain of Jesus lies at the very heart of the gospel, and that he called us to imitate him as suffering

February 12, 2015

Ethics & Moral Issues Sexuality

Solving Sexuality

By Jason Yeatts We, as a society and a church, have unconsciously adopted an understanding of sexuality that does more harm than good. I”m not talking about our culture”s growing acceptance of homosexuality, but our acceptance of the idea of homosexuality. The two are quite different. We have picked up a language about sex that both perpetuates a wrong view of human identity and hinders the path of Christian discipleship. To understand how this has happened, we must first look at the human heart. When Scriptures declare, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10) and

February 9, 2015

Book Reviews Reviews

Secular View, Scriptural Standards

Review by Dick Alexander Unhooked Generation: The TruthÂ about Why We”re Still Single By Jillian Straus Hyperion, 2007 Have you noticed Americans are waiting longer to marry than past generations? And have you noticed a growing number don”t marry at all? So did Jillian Straus, because she was one of them. With matchmaking websites, speed dating, and shelves of relationship books, why can”t today”s young adults find the love relationships they”re looking for, and make them last? Straus, a former producer for Oprah, interviewed more than 100 single men and women thirtysomethings, and wove their stories with her own observations into

October 22, 2014

Devotionals

Poetry Is Useless

By Jim Tune The wonderful thing about poetry is that it is at once both useless and utile. I love poetry. I am pulled to words in a powerful way. They draw me in with an almost physical intensity. Many of the greatest masters of the English language throughout history have been Christian poets. Think of John Milton, who composed the magnificent epic poem Paradise Lost in order to “justify the ways of God to man.” Think of John Donne, who wrote such memorable lines as “Death be not proud,” “No man is an island,” and “Never send to know

June 15, 2014

An Interview with Ravi Zacharias

By David Faust Why have you devoted so much of your life and ministry to Christian apologetics? I come from India, where the Christian faith is clearly a minority.1 When you believe something out of deep conviction that has cost you quite a bit and is not in the mainstream, then you have to answer the questions that arise. There is no escaping it, internally or externally. You are constantly surrounded by deep-seated questions of truth. I myself had many questions as a young person, and came to Christ on a bed of suicide at the age of 17. Thus,

June 13, 2014

What”s So Distinctive about the Christian Faith?

By Donald S. Tingle The world is full of religions. If Christianity is just one of many faith traditions, what makes it so special, so distinctive from all other religious claims? The answers Christian have given to that question often fit somewhere between two extremes. But somewhere in the middle lie the answers we need to show followers of other religions why Christianity alone truly leads us to God. On the extreme right some might say, “Christianity is true; therefore all non-Christian religions are false. Non-Christians are so thoroughly blinded by Satan that nothing worthwhile can be found among their

June 11, 2014

Who Needs Apologetics?

By Chad Ragsdale While attacks abound on faith in general and Christianity in particular, some claim the time for apologetics is past.Â But I say apologetics will always be relevant and essential for two reasons: the nature of our faith, and the nature of our call. “Apologetics is a wonderful thing,” the guest speaker said. “If you live in the 1950s. And in Kansas.” It was an awkward moment. And not just because the crowd included a large number of Kansas students sometimes sensitive about their home state being used as the universal standard for lameness. But also because it

April 4, 2014