Articles for tag: Gates Of Hades

The Reminders We Need

When we began planning this month’s issue about how the pandemic (and other 2020 perils) have impacted church and parachurch finances, I figured this would be our “bad news” issue. O me of little faith. When I asked leaders to write about this topic, several apologized for having little or no bad news to report. A recurring theme through these articles is how much God blessed their ministries, how he opened doors like never before during the pandemic, how giving actually increased (exponentially in some cases), how God worked for the good in all the struggles to do what only

August 3, 2020

Stuart Powell

Building God’s House

By Stuart Powell During the construction of the first temple in Jerusalem, Solomon received a message from Yahweh God: As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel (1 Kings 6:11-13). David designed the temple, Solomon built it, but God conceived the faith upon which Solomon’s temple stood. That temple in Jerusalem was one of a multitude built throughout

Lesson for May 12, 2019: Trust Jesus with Your Soul (Mark 8:27-38)

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 17-20; April 28–May 19, 2019) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ Lesson Aim: Trust Jesus’ authority to save you. ______ As part of a larger poem, William Ross Wallace wrote, “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” A fitting tribute to mothers. But what about the God who rocks the whole world? Can we trust our

Getting the Most from the Gospels (Part Two)

By Matt Proctor In Part One of this article, I explained that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are more than divinely inspired, historically accurate biographies. They are that, to be sure. But each writer”s distinctive approach to telling his material gives us nuance and knowledge we would never have received from one writer alone. This week we consider principles to help us get the fullest meaning possible from what I call these “pastorally interpretive narratives of the life of Christ.”   Read Behind the Lines The first principle of Gospel reading is read behind the lines. In other words, look at the history and culture

An Embarrassment of Riches (Part 2: Four Popular Translations)

By Mark S. Krause Last week we looked at five factors that shape an English translation of the Bible: interpretation, version genealogy, translation theory, audience, and gender-neutral language. This week and next week, we will take a quick look at eight translations.   Popular English Translations There are too many English translations of the Bible to write about each one, but we will focus on a few. In each case, we will look at the presuppositions behind the translation, its audience, and a couple of test verses: Psalm 8:4 and Matthew 16:18. Psalm 8:4 is well-known for its ringing question,

The Gospel Offensive

By Jeff Krajewski When Aerosmith sang, “There”s something wrong in the world today,” the band stated a reality that very few would contradict. There has been something wrong with the world for many thousands of years. We believe we know how things should be. But we don”t see it in our culture. It appears that most, if not all, of our Christian values have been completely removed from the fabric of a society. In his book Families at the Crossroads author Rodney Clapp says this, Scant decades ago, most Westerners agreed that lifelong monogamy was ideal, that mothers should stay

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