Articles for tag: Luke 11

November 2, 2019

Christian Standard

25 Years of Changes and Challenges in Children’s Ministry

By Teresa Welch Just 25 years ago, children’s ministry was commonly described as childcare with Bible stories and Goldfish crackers. Children were either kept away from the sanctuary or were made to sit quietly with parents during the sermon. Churches were waiting for children to grow up before investing in them fully. Today, thankfully, children’s ministry is a spiritual greenhouse rather than a spiritual waiting room. Children are front and center and actively learning. Each child is given attention and spiritual nourishment to grow into a disciple of Christ. Why this change? It began when churches realized that building a

January 14, 2019

Mark Scott

Lesson for January 20, 2019: God Is Pleased with a Prayer of Faith (Eleazar—Genesis 24:7-9, 40)

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. 1 (weeks 1–4; January 6–27, 2019) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ Lesson Aim: Be confident that the Lord hears your prayer of faith. ______ By Mark Scott  Prayer is hard to understand. It only works because a merciful God wills it to work. How can God be sovereign and yet open to our suggestions? But God invites (commands?) his people to pray. He is hurt by

February 16, 2017

Christian Standard

Coping with What Jesus Said

By Bob Mink I Wish Jesus Hadn”t Said That  Stephen Timmis Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014 The Hard Sayings of Jesus F.F. Bruce Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1983 Some book titles get your attention by implying they are about something you may not agree with. When I was a youth minister in the 1970s, I used Fritz Ridenour”s book How to be a Christian Without Being Religious, and was taken to task by a mother who misunderstood the title. Steve Timmis”s book, I Wish Jesus Hadn”t Said That (Zondervan, 2013), does the same thing. The title is his initial response to

April 18, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for April 24, 2016: Tested Faith (Luke 15:11-24)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, and has held preaching ministries in Missouri, Illinois, and Colorado. This lesson treatment is published in the April 17 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  This parable is the most familiar of Jesus” 40 parables. Jesus” teaching on discipleship ended with the words, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear” (Luke 14:35). The most unlikely people, namely tax collectors and sinners, drew near to hear him (15:1). To justify

December 29, 2014

Christian Standard

Lesson for January 4, 2015: Jesus’ Model for Prayer (Luke 11:1-13)

This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. It is published in the December 28, 2014, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Sam E. Stone  This month”s lessons focus on “Learning to Pray.” What an appropriate topic! The apostle Paul wrote, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us though wordless groans” (Romans 8:26). As H. Lynn Gardner pointed out, “This prayer may appropriately be called “˜The Lord”s Prayer” because our Lord taught it. It

November 11, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

Prayer Made a Difference at ReChurch

By Mark A. Taylor The big man with broad shoulders and a wide grin greeted me as I headed toward my display table. I was about finished setting up for the annual leadership conference, “ReChurch,” sponsored by Indian Creek Christian Church in Indianapolis. Better known as “The Creek,” the church hosted the event last Thursday and Friday, November 6 and 7. He greeted me with a firm handshake and introduced himself as Kevin Hart, executive minister for operations at the megachurch. I told him my name, and he asked me, “Can I pray for you?” With others passing in both

January 16, 2014

Christian Standard

Consumer Christianity: Idol for Destruction

By J.K. Jones It is a plague that seeks to devour our churches, a spiritual disease as old as Adam and Eve. It is a sickness of the soul. It is a sleight of hand, a slick replacement of God with something that resembles him but is not him. Consumerism of the Christian kind is a making of God into our own likeness, wanting him on our own terms. At its most crass level, clearly evident in the North American Christian landscape, consumer Christianity is taking and never giving in return. It is a worldview, a way of living out

March 24, 2013

Christian Standard

Four Vital Signs of a Healthy Elder Team

By Gary L. Johnson Effective teams are healthy teams. But how do elder teams function well together? What does a healthy elder team look like? The best answers to those questions can be found in the leadership lessons between Jesus and his team of disciples. As Jesus neared the end of his ministry, as described in Mark 8 and 9, he had significant moments with his disciples, revealing four vital signs of a healthy team.   Vital Sign 1 A healthy elder team knows and pursues the mission. In Mark 8:31-38, Jesus explained to his disciples that he would suffer at

September 4, 2012

Christian Standard

The Whole in Our Gospel

By Tim Harlow The slogan I”m repeating these days: We”re called to bring Heaven to earth and take earth to Heaven. How well are we doing both? I took my dad to the World Series in Detroit in 2006. The Tigers were playing our beloved St. Louis Cardinals (we are lifelong Cardinal fans), and we had connections, so we went. I had never been to Tiger Stadium, so I relied on MapQuest to guide us there. We arrived at a stadium, but it looked pretty old and run down; the lights weren”t on, and there were no cars in the

March 4, 2012

Christian Standard

The Marginalized

By David Soucie They sit quietly in our auditoriums. Numbering in the untold thousands, they border on invisible. Unknown to most, they are the marginalized. Some are new attendees. Because they are naturally reserved, they have not ventured out beyond their pew. Most of the congregation is content to allow them to be a part of their services, but never make the effort to get acquainted. The new people wait for someone to reach out, and remain disappointed. Some have been around for years. Most are introverts, and they have long given up waiting for the extroverts to notice them

July 28, 2011

Christian Standard

A Place at the Table

By Ethan Magness   Many of Jesus” stories and parables center on parties and feasts. A consistent theme in these stories is that many who attend are unworthy. We see this in the parable of the great banquet (Luke 14:15-24). Many on the initial guest list refused to come, and so many others were then invited. And those invited later were people one would never expect to be invited to a noble event. The great parable of the wayward son (Luke 15:11-32) ends with a surprising feast. The elder son in the parable gives voice to our confusion when he

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.

November 23, 2008

Christian Standard

The Power of Persistence

By Victor M. Parachin In the 11th century, Henry III, king of Germany, became dissatisfied with court life and the pressures of the monarchy. Unlike many rulers, Henry was a deeply spiritual individual whose faith guided his daily life and rule. Therefore he made a visit to Prior Richard, the leader of a local monastery, asking to be received as a contemplative. His wish, Henry explained, was to spend the rest of his life in the monastery. “Your Majesty,” responded Prior Richard, “do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have

October 1, 2006

Christian Standard

The Sin of Prayerlessness

By Dave Butts I remember as a young man reading the classic by E.M. Bounds, The Power of Prayer. The author told story after story of great men and women of prayer who would often spend hours in prayer each day. I was excited about the prayer lives of these amazing prayer warriors, yet something disturbed me. These great pray-ers, after spending hours praying, would often cry over their prayerlessness and lack of devotion to prayer. I remember thinking, If these people are guilty of prayerlessness, then who would not be guilty of such a sin? Most of us feel

Secret Link