Articles for tag: Forgiveness

November 13, 2018

Christian Standard

Count Your Many Blessings

By Lena Wood When asked what we’re thankful for, we usually start off with God, country, and family, then go on to things of less and less significance. Today, though, let’s start at the bottom, with the seemingly insignificant things, like . . . the color of the sky at sunrise, the sound of birds settling in for the night, the softness of a blanket. Look around. Are you wearing comfortable shoes? Do you have a little cash in your wallet? Are your friends and family here? Is there a roof over your head? Look within, to things you rarely

October 29, 2018

Mark Scott

Lesson for November 4, 2018: Gentile Inclusion in the Church (Acts 10:28-48)

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. 11 (weeks 41–44; October 14—November 4, 2018) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ Lesson Aim: God includes all in his church. ______ By Mark Scott  Years ago Dr. Marshall Leggett was preaching on Acts 10, 11 at Broadway Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, and his opening line of the message was, “That door just keeps getting wider.” One cannot read the Book of Acts without being impressed

October 16, 2018

Christian Standard

A Substitute

By Tom Claibourne The Bible is very bloody. Two-thirds of the books mention blood, with more than 450 total references. Blood is the scarlet thread that runs through the Bible and is central to Christianity. Many sincere Christians have set out to read through the entire Bible, only to get bogged down in the seemingly endless details concerning animal sacrifices. Why so many sacrifices? Why so much blood, when the Bible clearly states that the blood of animals cannot take away sins (Hebrews 10:3, 4, 11)? The Old Testament sacrificial system was part of a symbolic process God used to

October 9, 2018

Christian Standard

The Lord’s Supper Puts Us in Our Place

By Tom Claibourne If there was ever a place to be filled with humility, it is at the Lord’s table. It is not a place for judgmental comparisons, selfish pride, or spiritual arrogance. The Lord’s Supper puts us all on the same level by putting each of us in our place. The simple emblems ordained by Jesus remind us why he died. They call us to reflect on the apostle Paul’s stunning acknowledgment: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” The Lord’s table prompts us to confess, “I am as well.” The Lord’s

July 31, 2018

Christian Standard

Everyday Objects—Eternal Truths

By Joe Harvey Have you ever noticed the way Jesus took the most ordinary objects and attached extraordinary meaning to them? He talked about good seed and bad soil and the next thing we know, he challenges the receptivity of our hearts to the message of God. He talked about weeds to confront our priorities and treatment of others. He talked about catching fish, and he ended up calling his disciples to preach and teach the good news of God’s Messiah come. Over and over again, Jesus used everyday objects to teach eternal truths. When significance is added to the

July 24, 2018

Christian Standard

Celebrating the Victory

By Jon Wren Good sportsmanship is one of the values we try to foster in our kids. From the time they start playing Little League, we encourage them to shake hands after a game. We talk about the virtue of humility when they win and being gracious when they lose. This value is so ingrained in our culture that many professional sports leagues penalize players who display poor sportsmanship, taunt the other team, or celebrate excessively after scoring. Good sportsmanship, in many ways, is an important character trait and value to live up to. Yet, according to the apostle Paul,

July 10, 2018

Christian Standard

A Meal That Reminds Us

By Jon Wren In the last chapter of John’s Gospel, Peter and John, among other disciples, encountered the resurrected Jesus early in the morning on a beach at the Sea of Galilee. Their meeting with him was the culmination of what surely had been a strange and confusing period of time. After spending years following Jesus through small villages and large cities, watching him heal the sick and the demon-possessed, hearing him teach and preach, and even watching him die on the cross, these disciples were sitting with Jesus on a quiet beach . . . and the Lord had

July 3, 2018

Christian Standard

A Life in Contrast

By Jon Wren Several years ago in Maine, authorities arrested a 47-year-old man after catching him stealing food and supplies from a local camp. Upon investigating, it was discovered the man had a much more complicated and interesting story than originally suspected. Specifically, authorities learned the man had spent 27 years living in the woods in total seclusion, detached from all human contact. The “North Pond Hermit,” as he was called, sustained himself for almost three decades by breaking into and stealing from local campsites, restaurants, and businesses. His entire existence had centered around isolation and theft. Can you imagine

June 25, 2018

Mark Scott

Lesson for July 1, 2018: Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:21-35)

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. 6 (weeks 25–28; June 24—July 15, 2018) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  “God is just” was the accent of last month’s lessons. “Jesus calls for justice and mercy” is the accent of this month’s lessons. Therefore our texts will come from the Gospels—two from Matthew and three from Luke. Matthew 18 is Jesus’ fourth discourse in the Gospel. The theme of the

June 1, 2018

Jerry Harris

‘Our Position’ Revisited

By Jerry Harris When Isaac Errett wrote “Our Position,” a need existed within the Restoration Movement to define in succinct terms the soaring rhetoric of Barton W. Stone’s The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery, Thomas Campbell’s The Declaration and Address, and Alexander Campbell’s “Sermon on the Law,” which had so eloquently defined the position of a movement intent on the restoration of first-century Christianity. Errett argued that while creeds are sectarian and create division, and therefore are sinful, we are free to identify those areas where we find ourselves in agreement with the larger evangelical framework, those areas

March 20, 2018

Christian Standard

A Family Feast

By Dick Wamsley It is significant that Jesus instituted what we today call Communion or the Lord’s Supper at Passover, a traditional Jewish family feast. Every element of the Passover meal was designed to remind the Jews of the bitterness of slavery their ancestors suffered in Egypt and their deliverance from the tenth plague, the angel of death that passed over the land killing every firstborn male. Jesus used this sacred supper of remembrance as a teaching moment for his disciples and to institute a memorial service that the church has observed for more than 20 centuries. He turned just

March 13, 2018

Christian Standard

The Presence of the Resurrected Christ

By Dick Wamsley In an article in Worship Leader from 1993, Robert Webber wrote, “In early Christian worship . . . the giving of thanks was not a sober recall of the death of Jesus, but a joyous response to the presence of the resurrected Christ.” He cited the experiences of the earliest Christians when they came together to “break bread” (Acts 2:42), connecting those experiences with the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus recorded in Luke 24 and John 21. Luke records the appearance of Jesus to Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus. Even though Jesus walked with

January 18, 2018

Christian Standard

This Isn’t a Test, Praise the Lord

By Jim Nieman If you have ever taken a standardized test in preparation for college, you know they’re not much fun. Years ago, the analogy portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (or SAT) asked questions like, “Buzz is to Hum as . . .” and you were provided a list of possible answers, the correct one being, “Tinkle is to Clang.” Let’s try another one: “Parquet is to Wood as Linoleum is to Marble.” (No, that’s not right.) “Parquet is to Wood as Color is to Painting.” (No, wrong again.) Here’s the right answer: “Parquet is to Wood as Mosaic

November 15, 2017

Christian Standard

The Past, Our Greatest Enemy

By Charles Gerber Everything changes. If you put macaroni and cheese in a refrigerator for a month, it becomes green and fuzzy. It changes into something unhealthy and nonnutritious. But, while most food items will spoil over time, our past has no expiration date! Everyone wrestles with his past. Oscar Wilde said, “No man is rich enough to buy back his past.” But regret is sometimes the reason we try. Juan Ponce de León was a Spanish explorer whose quest was to find the fountain of youth. Was he looking to undo his past mistakes by regaining his youth? The

November 6, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for November 12, 2017: Promise of a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:27-34)

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 5, 2017. issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  The Bible has a love/hate relationship with old and new. On the one hand, God”s people were to ask for the ancient paths and old ways (Jeremiah 6:16), and even Jesus said that the old wine was best (Luke 5:39). On the other hand, Paul taught that if anyone is in Christ he is

November 1, 2017

Christian Standard

No One”s Perfect

By David Ray On June 2, 2010, Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was on the verge of pitching a perfect game””a feat so rare that, in all of baseball history, only 20 pitchers to that point had ever accomplished it. After retiring 26 consecutive Cleveland Indians batters, Galarraga was one out away from joining the rarified ranks. A frenzied crowd was on its feet, with players and coaches in both dugouts craning to see if history would be made. When Cleveland”s Jason Donald smacked a grounder between first and second, it happened. Galarraga raced to cover first and caught the

October 25, 2017

Christian Standard

Discerning the Body

By Marsha Relyea Miles  If you were to worship with tribal Jesus followers in the jungle of Papua New Guinea, you might find yourself sitting on a rough-hewn log rather than a comfortable pew or chair. The typical church building has a thatched roof, woven bamboo walls, a dirt floor, and “windows” that are open to the jungle (no glass or screen); the church is graced with calls of tropical birds and shaded by giant palms and lush foliage.   Imagine this setting . . . the sultry, equatorial breeze wafts in, carrying with it the sweetness of exquisite rainforest flowers.

July 7, 2017

Christian Standard

Kidnapped by the Taliban

By Ron Davis Many Americans were introduced to one of the stories of the Afghanistan war when they saw the 2014 CBS interview of Dr. Dilip Joseph regarding his experience and the book he had just written with James Lund, Kidnapped by the Taliban (Thomas Nelson Publishers). Dr. Joseph was the medical director for Morning Star Development, active in Afghanistan, serving locals with medical care and training. Returning from a mission of mercy, Dr. Joseph and his party were captured by the Taliban and held for several days. Their captors kept them moving constantly, and they were in moment-by-moment fear

July 3, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for July 9, 2017: Isaiah (Isaiah 6)

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 July 2, 2017, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  In the first religious awakening of America, Jonathan Edwards preached a now famous sermon entitled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” He took his text from Deuteronomy, and he pled for the people of New England to turn back to God. Centuries later the New Testament scholar, D.A. Carson, preached a sermon entitled,

June 20, 2017

Christian Standard

A Profoundly Influential Leader

By Ken Idleman One of the contributing factors in maintaining ourselves as a nominally Christian nation is the presence of moral leadership in the White House. Some of our presidents have used their considerable influence to point us to the God of the Bible: George Washington, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush, to name just a few. Without question, we have been blessed as a people when our most prominent national leader has demonstrated godly convictions and character. Joseph, whose biography is detailed in Genesis 37 to 50, was just such a dynamic and deep

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