March 13, 2026
JUSTICE VS. GRACE
A meditation on human guilt and the gospel surprise: in Christ, grace—not justice—was served at the cross. As you take Communion, remember what Jesus bore for us and consider who needs that message this week.
Articles for tag: John 1
August 25, 2025
SERVICE IS POWER
What we remember at this time of Communion is not how much Jesus knew but how much he loved us, and this love drove him to the cross.
March 1, 2024
The Way We Were
What can we learn by reviewing Restoration Movement history? . . .
January 29, 2024
Feb. 4 Lesson | The Disciples Believe
After Jesus’ baptism, he stayed near where John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing. At this point he gave a “preliminary” call to Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael. . . .
January 22, 2024
Jan. 28 | Discovery Questions
These Discovery Questions are for use with this week’s Lookout Bible Lesson, “I AM the Vine” (John 15:1-20, 26-27), by Mark Scott.
December 18, 2023
Dec. 24 Lesson | The True Light Enters the World
Jesus was coming into the world—that is the essence of the Christmas story. . . .
November 27, 2023
Dec. 3 Lesson | Witness to the Light
God’s prophetic voice had been stilled for close to 400 years when John the Baptist began preaching in the wilderness of Judea. He was to be God’s messenger and the one who would prepare the way for the Lord. . . .
September 19, 2023
‘One Body’ Marks 40 Years of Promoting Christian Unity
"One Body," edited by Victor Knowles, has promoted the unity of all Christians for the sake of world evangelism (as Jesus prayed for in John 17:21) for 40 years, but its focus has been on unity within the Restoration Movement . . .
July 10, 2023
Two Giant Leaps
Walking on the moon was an amazing feat, but it cannot compare to another “giant leap” . . .
May 30, 2023
What I’ve Learned in Switching to an A Cappella Church of Christ
In the fall of 2020, as COVID restrictions were being eased, my wife and I were church “free agents.” I suggested we try an a cappella congregation I knew in Louisville, Ky. We jumped in, and two years later I joined the staff as involvement minister—a lifelong Christian Church guy now teaching, discipling, and worshipping in four-part harmony. Here are five observations from my experiences serving in an a cappella church. . . .
May 15, 2023
May 21 | Wounded
The Lord acts like a physician who must hurt the patient to produce healing. He seems violent, but the Lord knows something about wounds, and he knows how redemptive they can be. . . .
May 16, 2022
Trust in God
By Stuart Powell In John 13-16, Jesus prepared his disciples for their next big step in following him. They had left their family’s trade and their parents’ house. They spent years listening to their rabbi speak and were astonished by his authority over weather, diseases, and demons. But what came next shook their faith in God and in him. They witnessed the heart-breaking evil of this sinful world that Jesus came to face and conquer. To help prepare his disciples, Jesus spoke these words to them: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me”
A Passion for John 17: The Legacy of Don DeWelt
By Chris DeWelt Sometimes a cataclysmic event can sharpen one’s focus. Sometimes a difficult trial can give new meaning to all the pieces in one’s life. Sometimes suffering is the key in finding clarity of vision. My father, Don DeWelt, possessed a passion for the body of Christ to live out the prayer of Jesus for his followers: I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in
February 23, 2022
PrayerFast Partners Needed (Plus News Briefs)
ICOM and TCM International Institute are partnering for a PrayerFast initiative to encourage and equip Christ followers to pray and fast regularly for the Great Commission. Plus briefs about the Stone-Campbell Journal Conference (April 8-9), Team Expansion, MACU, and more.
November 1, 2021
The Greatest Love Song of All Time
By Jerry Harris What is the greatest love song of all time? Ask 10 people and you’ll probably get 10 different answers. It’s said music is the language of emotion, and if true, then singing is its spoken word. Our emotions come directly from being made in God’s image because our God is an emotional God—a God who feels. Our God not only feels emotions, but he also invented them . . . and some of the best emotions are called the fruit of the Spirit. That list in Galatians 5 begins with the greatest and highest of all emotions:
April 1, 2021
Caiaphas and the Central Park Five
In the summer of 2019, between seasons of The Great British Baking Show, my wife and I binge-watched the dramatized miniseries When They See Us. It was a true binge because we started the show at 8:00 on a weeknight right after we put our son down to bed and finished it around 2:00 a.m. Directed by Ava DuVernay, When They See Us is a four-episode series depicting the events that unfolded surrounding the Central Park jogger case in New York City in 1989 when five Black and Hispanic teenagers were falsely charged with assault and rape of a White
February 1, 2021
A Core Conviction
(for All of Us)
(Read “When Brothers Dwell in Unity,” a companion article by Rudy Hagood’s brother, Fate Hagood.) Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore (Psalm 133, all Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version). I have always been passionate about unity. While it might be a manifestation
Communion on the Moon
By Jon Wren This Monday, July 20, marks the 51st anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. It was the culmination of years of intense planning, research, and effort—and of centuries of scientific and astronomical study. It ranks as possibly the most impressive human achievement in history. People of a certain age can recall the image of the American flag on the moon’s surface and Neil Armstrong’s famous “one giant leap for mankind” statement. But probably very few people know about something else that happened that day on the moon. After the landing, astronaut Buzz Aldrin removed from his “personal
April 27, 2020
The Time
By Stuart Powell John’s Gospel shares a conversation that occurred the Sunday before Jesus’ crucifixion which is often overlooked in the festive inauguration of Holy Week. Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. . . . Now my soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver me from this hour’? No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour” (John 12:23-27, New English Translation). How often had Jesus looked ahead to “the time”? Did he ever pause as he washed his feet to consider where the nails
April 6, 2020
Lesson for April 12, 2020: Power Over Death (John 11:17-27, 32-44)
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 April 2020 issue of Christian Standard + The Lookout. (Subscribe to our print edition.) ________ Lesson Aim: Triumph with Jesus, who has broken the power of death. ________ By Mark Scott Easter is all about life swallowing death (1 Corinthians 15:54; Isaiah 25:8). Both Old and New Testaments gave us some “warm-up resurrections” so people could anticipate and appreciate the resurrection of Jesus. Some of those are Isaac’s (in
