Articles for tag: Freedom

March 14, 2012

Christian Standard

Love “em into the Lord”s Work!

By Steve Reeves In my opinion, a young preacher”s first ministry experience lays the groundwork for either a long, healthy ministry career or a short-lived series of job hops that leaves churches and families in a serious state of dysfunction. I”ve heard that the average tenure of a minister is three to four years. It was seven years only a decade ago. What seems to be the problem? While I”m sure there are immature “church-hopping” ministers, I guess there are at least as many “minister-chasing” churches. Most young ministers have school-age children, and I doubt many of them want to

February 15, 2012

Doug Redford

In the Garden

By Doug Redford Last summer our local newspaper featured an article about urban farming in the Cincinnati area. It described how people began growing gardens in various locations throughout the city, not only as a hobby but also as a way to provide additional food. One man was rather philosophical about gardening. “I started seeing how gardening made people happy,” he said, “how it started changing the whole community, and it just took my heart.” Then he added, “In a garden, you control your own destiny.” That last statement, to use gardening language, deserves some cultivation. It brings to mind

December 18, 2011

Christian Standard

Getting the Most from Revelation (Part One)

By Matt Proctor At first I steered clear of this perplexing book. But then a seminary class showed me that no Bible book offers greater help or relevance for Christians today. When I interviewed for my first preaching ministry at age 23, I told the pulpit committee I absolutely believed in the power of God”s Word to transform lives. I told them I was convinced “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). I affirmed for them my commitment to proclaim “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27, English Standard

October 22, 2011

Christian Standard

Getting the Most from the Epistles (Part One)

By Matt Proctor Think of them as love letters. Read them out loud like a sermon. Notice the wide range of literary tools their authors employed. Discover the truth and power waiting for every reader in these inspired letters from God. Some time ago, my wife, Katie, and I were rummaging through a box of old college keepsakes. I reached for a large manila envelope, wondering what was inside. Old love letters! I pulled out a thick stack of envelopes Katie had sent me one summer when we were dating. We had been apart all that summer, and I remember waiting eagerly for

October 20, 2011

Christian Standard

My Opinion about Opinions

By Karen J. Diefendorf I have an opinion about opinions! In the Army we use the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP). One of the steps is to separate facts from assumptions. It isn”t always as easy to differentiate the two as one might imagine. But the reason it is critical to identify assumptions is because of the great risks hidden within them. We put it this way: “The greater the assumption, the greater the risk.” Leaders have to determine how much risk they are willing to assume with any action. It seems to me that opinions in the life of

August 27, 2011

Christian Standard

The T-shirt Aristocracy

By Daniel Schantz I was speaking at a small Missouri church, and I couldn”t help noticing I was the only male wearing a necktie. Services were over, and I was shaking hands with the last person to leave. “Hmmm, seems like I”m the only male wearing a tie today,” I noted. The lady laughed. “Oh, don”t worry about that! Our preacher doesn”t wear a tie, and he urges us to dress down too, so that we don”t offend any seekers who might be poor and unable to afford dress clothes.” I said nothing. I have heard this line many times

August 12, 2011

Christian Standard

An Embarrassment of Riches (Part 3: The Most Popular Translations)

By Mark S. Krause   Last week we looked at numbers eight through five on the list of top-selling English Bibles. The article included a survey of the presuppositions behind the translations, and their audiences. This week we will look at the top four. As before, we will compare the treatment of Psalm 8:4 and Matthew 16:18 in each version reviewed (see bottom for fuller explanation of our test verses).   4. New Living Translation The New Living Translation (NLT) first appeared in 1996 with a substantial update in 2007. Its roots can be traced to Kenneth Taylor”s The Living

July 25, 2011

Christian Standard

Innumerable! (Part 1: Starting at the Wrong Place)

By Greg Nettle In the early church, Christology (what we believe about Jesus) determined missiology (what we believe about the church”s mission), which in turn determined ecclesiology (how the church must function). And since Jesus was all about proclaiming his good news so that people could be saved (Luke 19:10), the mission of the followers of Jesus must be to proclaim the good news so that people can be saved (Matthew 28:19). Therefore, the primary function of the church should be to seek and save the lost.1 Unfortunately, around AD 325, the order of things started getting out of whack.

June 29, 2011

Christian Standard

Behind Closed Doors

By Mark A. Taylor   He is an Arab Christian with a ministry in the Middle East. And to start he says he could not speak freely with me in his home country. There our conversation would not continue, he said, until he had removed the battery from his cell phone. “Why?” I ask. “Surveillance.” “They would bug your cell phone to listen to your conversations?” I said to him in disbelief. “It happens,” he said calmly. “If I were to openly speak with a Muslim about becoming a Christian, life would become very difficult for me and for him,”

June 27, 2011

Christian Standard

God Does Not Have a Plan for Your Life

By Jennifer Johnson “God”s plan for your life isn”t a map you see all at once, but a scroll unrolled a little at a time, requiring faith,” Rick Warren recently tweeted. “God will accelerate his plan for your life as you put your trust in him. God is giving you victory sooner than you think,” says Joel Osteen. Less prominent Christians champion the theology as well. In responding to a new believer”s question about his career, a contributor to Bible-Knowledge.com writes, “God will now be the one to fully guide you into whatever jobs he will want you to have. .

May 26, 2011

Christian Standard

Wherever the Table Is Spread

By J. Michael Shannon “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord”s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). The first Lord”s Supper was observed in a relatively obscure room in Jerusalem. It was a private gathering. Very few people were there. Those who were there did not understand its full significance. Jesus was making clear the meaning of his death. In the early church, Jesus” followers each Lord”s Day reenacted what happened in that room. Even though the events were fairly recent, they did not want a week to go by without remembering.

February 15, 2011

Christian Standard

Pray Expectantly

By Sheila S. Hudson Dr. Karen Jones made her way to my ground-floor office. As she blinked back tears in her hazel eyes, she broke the news that funding from the State Department of Education hadn”t arrived. What she didn”t say was, without those funds, my job would go away. But both of us knew that was true. I was stunned. Neither of us could believe it. For seven years, Karen and I had worked hand in glove providing summer workshops for special education teachers. Now it seemed our partnership was coming to an end. Not only that, but at

January 13, 2011

Christian Standard

Reading Scripture with Patience

By Mandy Smith This autumn I took my children to the farm. It seemed like the right thing to do in late September when school is in full swing and the slow days of summer are fading into distant memory. The farm we chose had placards throughout to instruct field trip groups about things like composting and spring houses. As I came upon the first of the signs, I was faced with a decision””to teach my children something or to let them explore. Mostly because of my own tiredness (but partly out of my sympathy for the hours they”d spent

January 2, 2011

Christian Standard

The Essential About Opinions

by Mark A. Taylor Any parent of young adults knows two things: First, you”ll always be a parent. Just because they”re out of the house, you don”t stop worrying about their health and their choices and their future. Just because they”re earning a living, you don”t stop wondering if they have enough money. Second, and more important, the parent of young adults must keep his opinions to himself””or at least state them in a gentle way that earns a hearing. Grown children don”t respond well to lectures from their parents, especially when they passionately disagree about the issue at hand.

November 10, 2010

Christian Standard

Stop Bashing the Bride!

Mike Baker It is very popular these days to write books, make statements, post blogs, and write articles that scold, criticize, and ridicule the church (especially the 21st-century American version). Is anyone but me getting just a little defensive? Honestly, these revelations don”t inspire me, they make me want to scream, “Hey, wait a minute, you”re talking about my church!” We are talking about Christ”s bride here. Shouldn”t we be a little more careful about how we flippantly describe Jesus” wife as irrelevant, corrupt, hypocritical, and ineffective? Indulge me just a little as I defend the church I have come

November 3, 2010

Christian Standard

Small Groups . . . Foundation for a Healthy Church

By Dick Alexander For most of our adult lives my wife and I have been in a small group””not because my job requires it but because our souls do. Our small groups have laughed, cried, prayed, encouraged, and studied the Bible with us, and helped us keep our bearings through troubled times. They have been “church” to us. Usually when there”s conversation about the value of small groups in the church, it”s done on a pragmatic basis””they keep people connected, they”re important for assimilation, etc. But the main reason for small groups is this: they are foundational for a larger

September 1, 2010

Christian Standard

Growing Like Jesus: The Spiritual Discipline of Parenting

By Matthew Proctor (Matthew Proctor was among eight Christian leaders asked to share what helps them mature just as Jesus did. Proctor is president of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, and serves as a contributing editor for CHRISTIAN STANDARD.) ___________________ When I look at books on the spiritual disciplines, the table of contents all read the same: Bible reading, prayer, fasting, meditation, and solitude. Each discipline, of course, is a God-given tool to help sculpt us into the image of Christ. But, if I were writing such a book, I would add another chapter: parenting. Few things help move me

July 11, 2010

Christian Standard

Seven Days of Praise

By Daniel Schantz MONDAY“”My favorite seed catalog arrived today and I am astounded at the offerings. Things like cucumbers with big spikes on them, red noodle beans as long as my arm, speckled trout lettuce, watermelons with stars on them, and Asian snake melons 4 feet long. There are coal-black tomatoes, mother-of-pearl poppies, and a plant called Job”s tears that produces beads, which you can string into a necklace. I can almost hear God laughing out loud as he made these wacky plants. And I want to stand up and cheer. “Way to go, God! Cool cucumbers!” “O Lord, how

May 23, 2010

Christian Standard

The Revolutionary Relevance of Christian Hope in Communion

By Ash Baker Last October 17, I shared Communion in Klong Prem prison (aka “The Bangkok Hilton”) for the first time. I now visit each week with Chris McCartney, a member of our team who has been going there for more than a year. It”s become a high point in my weekly routine, though not without challenges. When Chris first asked me to accompany him, I was outwardly thrilled, but quietly uncertain about how to meaningfully share Communion with these guys. Francis, for example, is in his 60s and has been in jail more than 40 years. What could we

May 2, 2010

Christian Standard

Why Do Christians Serve? Guilt or Gratitude?

By Larry W. Bailey Lady Macbeth compulsively washed her hands in a vain attempt to cleanse herself from feelings of guilt. She and her husband had conspired in the murder of King Duncan, and the “spot of blood” on her hands seemed to resist removal. Her repeated attempts to cleanse herself of blood (guilt) proved futile. She wondered aloud, “Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (Macbeth, act 5, scene 1). Physical actions could not relieve her guilty conscience. We all can identify with Lady Macbeth to some extent, because all

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