August 31, 2023
"What do you want to be known for?" Michael C. Mack asked in this article from 2010. "What would you want people to say about you when you die? What do you want written in your obituary?" These questions are all the more appropriate and poignant because Mike, our editor, died one week ago today. . . .
November 1, 2021
By Tyler McKenzie Every minister frustrated with their congregation, every person leaving their church, and every millennial who is deconstructing needs to read the opening chapter on community in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’sLife Together. It might save your ministry, your membership, or even your faith. Our communities feel irreparably broken right now. The last 18 months have been relationally traumatic. Most of us have “had it out”—at least once—with someone we love. Maybe it was on the family text thread, over dinner one night, or in the comments section of social media. Or maybe you didn’t have it out. Maybe their outrageous
April 19, 2021
Christians are clearly called to follow the Lord in the cruciform life. Today’s lesson—the third clear prediction of the cross followed by the request of James and John for chief seats—underlines this.
December 2, 2020
Victor Knowles recommends you ask yourself these questions as you preach or prepare to preach.
October 5, 2020
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 2020 issue of Christian Standard + The Lookout. (Subscribe to our print edition.) ________ COMPANION RESOURCES “We’re All in Hospice” by David Faust (Lesson Application) Discovery Questions for Oct. 11, 2020 ________ Lesson Aim: Expect and endure the costs of serving Christ. ________ By Mark Scott All things of significance cost something. A football player trains hard to win the Super Bowl. A medical student endures a grueling
August 19, 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. 9 (weeks 32-35; August 18—September 8, 2019) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ________ Lesson Aim: We are better when we have each other to care for and to care for us. ________ By Mark Scott Ecclesiastes is full of sound advice: know what really matters in life, redeem pleasure, use time wisely, be judicious with your words, think properly about wealth, act well toward
April 9, 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. 4 (weeks 13–16; April 1–22, 2018) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “To follow Christ is to obey Christ.” The apostles had the privilege of literally “coming after” Jesus. For them, following Jesus meant geography, physicality, and proximity. But after Jesus’ resurrection their following of him became more like ours. Obedience outstripped physical presence. The lesson text today picks up
March 1, 2018
By Bob Russell A popular Christian blogger recently suggested ministers should avoid preaching “anything political” because that’s an automatic turnoff to most seekers. He pointed out that when preachers take a position on contentious cultural issues they minimize opportunities for evangelism—especially with millennials. He applauded one of the leading ministers in America who recently announced he would no longer preach about homosexuality because it was such a polarizing subject. WHY CONFRONT CONTROVERSIAL POLITICAL ISSUES? That may sound like good counsel because, after all, our ultimate hope isn’t in politics but in Jesus Christ. But think about the many hot-button
October 9, 2017
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 8, 2017. issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott Obedience is not Testament specific. Both the Old and New Testaments call God”s people to obey. The Old Testament contains at least 613 commands to obey. The New Testament contains well over 1,000 commands to obey. Obedience is a response to redemption (Exodus 20:2). Obedience helps us learn the mind of God (John 7:17).
April 6, 2017
By Jennifer Johnson One of the most commonly quoted verses from Eugene Peterson”s The Message Bible is John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” This metaphor for the incarnation is referenced so often because, like all good poetic language, it succinctly describes a profound truth: Jesus not only came to earth to be with us, he came to be one of us. Following Jesus means following his example and “incarnating” the gospel in our own neighborhoods. Sometimes this means tutoring children or planting a church. For Salt & Light, it meant offering opportunities to
November 10, 2016
By Troy Jackson God hears the cries of those suffering from injustice. Do we? The Bible”s story of Ruth challenges us to look with new eyes at the plight of those still seeking justice today. When many think of justice, they reflect on the inequities that plague our communities and our world. Others consider the hundreds of millions of people who have little access to clean water. Some mourn for those caught in the horrors of human trafficking, and some are angered when they know people are mistreated and wounded because of race or gender or ethnicity or even geography.
June 18, 2015
See the sidebar, “Understanding and Appreciating the Four Generations“ ________ By Gary Zustiak It seems everywhere you look””from book titles to magazine articles to blog posts””there is a panicked cry about the church”s failure to reach the millennial generation. Josh McDowell is quoted as saying: “It is clear that we have all but lost our young people to a godless culture.”1 The Southern Baptist Convention Council on Family Life”s research indicated “88 percent of evangelical children are leaving the church shortly after they graduate from high school.”2 Eric Tryggestad, in an article entitled “Are We Losing Our Young People?” claims only
April 29, 2015
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
March 1, 2015
By LeRoy Lawson Washington Journal: Reporting Watergate and Richard Nixon”s Downfall Elizabeth Drew New York: Overlook Hardcover, 2014 Seven Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness Eric Metaxas Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013 The Rise of the Nones: Understanding and Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated James Emery White Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2014 I have been reliving a nightmare. Not just my bad dream, but our nation”s. Nightmare isn”t even my word. It”s Gerald Ford”s, part of his August 1974 swearing-in remarks. Richard Nixon had left the White House in disgrace. “My fellow Americans,” Ford told the country, “our long national nightmare
September 18, 2014
By Michael C. Mack One way to know you have an intimate relationship with the Father is when you hear and recognize his voice (John 10:1-5). The only way to do that is to spend time alone with him. But that”s not easy in our fast-paced lives. In ministry we tend to spend a lot of time with other people in community, and that”s good! But as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, solitude and community go hand in hand for spiritually healthy people. Jesus modeled this for us. Luke 5:16 says, “Jesus often withdrew [from crowds of people] to lonely places and
August 30, 2014
By Michael C. Mack 1. Use impressive, big words like regeneration, justification, and eschatology as much as possible. 2. Interject names such as Polycarp, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and, yes, Rick Warren and Max Lucado. 3. Be serious all the time. Since you are studying God”s Holy Word, there is no time for fun or frivolity! 4. Don”t allow people to share their feelings. Focus on facts. Feelings have no place in Bible study. 5. Do most of the talking. Study diligently and then share everything you learned about your topic. This is what it means to teach. 6. If no one responds
November 24, 2012
THIS IS THE SECOND IN A SERIES OF FIVE “STICKY CONVERSATIONS” By Steve Larson We want to believe this is someone else”s problem. We want to believe that ministry professionals are above entanglement in this sin. But statistics tell us, and my experience affirms this: pornography is present even in the church, but those enmeshed in it can be helped. A little over 15 years ago, I left the marketplace in Michigan and planted a church in Cary, North Carolina. Crosspointe Church began in the fall of 1997. Having been involved in a family business for a number of years,
March 23, 2012
By LeRoy Lawson Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships that All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward Henry Cloud New York: Harper Business, 2010 Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus Kyle Idleman Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011 Hannah”s Child: A Theologian”s Memoir Stanley Hauerwas Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2010 Not long ago a friend urged me to read Henry Cloud”s Necessary Endings. It has inspired and instructed him, he said, because as he leads his megachurch into its next phase of growth, he knows he faces some very difficult decisions.
October 26, 2011
By Brad Dupray Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy By Eric Metaxas Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010 German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer had a wanderlust that carried him throughout pre-World War II Europe, across the Atlantic to the United States, and even as far south as Mexico City. It was not the sights he saw that shaped Bonhoeffer”s worldview, so much as the people he met. In this thorough biographical account of a Christian martyr, Eric Metaxas reviews the tapestry of relationships Bonhoeffer used to understand basic human rights, all in the context of one who also had a deep understanding of Scripture. But
November 25, 2007
By Jan Johnson A frequent cause of traffic jams on highways in my area is the “Looky Lou” habit of drivers who slow down to examine accidents on the side of the road. Usually an ambulance has already arrived so it”s not as if people want to help. They just to want to look. Similarly, when public tragedies occur, we find ourselves hooked on monitoring news coverage. At first, this helps us move through the shock phase of grief, but then it comes to resemble that morbid “Looky Lou” phenomenon. Perhaps we do this because we don”t know what else
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