November 4, 2025
Wake Up!
This is the fifth in a series of weekly articles based on Christ’s letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. This week’s church is Sardis.
Articles for tag: Mark 13
July 11, 2022
July 17 | Application (‘So What?’)
Ask Christians if they believe in Jesus’ second coming, and most will say yes. But if we believe in the return of Christ, we must dare to ask, “So what?” The second coming deserves more than a passing nod. In practical terms, how does our expectation of Christ’s return shape our lives?
April 11, 2022
Mary’s Pain
We need to dig into our own memories of despair to approach the tomb with the same weight Mary carried on Easter morning. . . .
October 11, 2021
He Himself Is Our Peace
It was anything but peaceful when peace came to this world. . . .
February 15, 2021
Feb 21 | Discovery
Study Questions for Groups By Michael C. Mack 1. In what specific ways did you act with love and mercy toward others last week? 2. What opportunity came your way or what challenge did you face as you acted with love and mercy? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read James 3:1-12 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to summarize the main points of the passage. 3. In general, why should we be careful with what we say? 4. Let’s dig deeper into this Bible passage:
February 1, 2021
Feb 7 | The 4-H Club
When I was a boy, I joined a 4-H Club. Our local chapter was small. A half-dozen rowdy boys gathered once a month for an after-school meeting led by a local farmer who volunteered his time to sponsor us. We chose club officers, and one year I was elected president of this auspicious group. The major accomplishment of my presidential administration was adopting a resolution that our 4-H Club’s official refreshments would be potato chips and Mountain Dew. (The Pepsi-Cola Company began marketing Mountain Dew nationwide in 1964, and the 4-H Club was the first place I tasted it.) 4-H
December 14, 2019
Children Matter . . . All Year Long
By Gary L. Johnson “Christmas is for children,” declares one song of the season. We can see the truth of that statement in society simply by observing parents and grandparents as they buy gifts to make children’s Christmas wishes come true. As elders, we understand the importance of children all year round. We have a serious problem in the church that will directly impact the next generation and can claim the spiritual lives of countless people. Elder teams must respond quickly with strength and wisdom from God so we can avert this crisis. The Problem Elders need to be keenly
May 13, 2019
Lesson for May 19, 2019: Trust Jesus in Suffering (Mark 13:9-20)
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’ strength to carry you through suffering. ______ Suffering is caused by a variety of things, including our poor choices, the poor choices of others, and creation being out of sorts with its Creator. Ultimately all suffering is caused by the devil (Genesis 3) and overseen by a
April 9, 2019
Faith: From Sorrow to Joy
By Stuart Powell Is there anything more difficult than hearing someone you love say goodbye? We typically react with sadness. That feeling is amplified when the goodbye comes at the threshold of death. Jesus’ disciples experienced that situation on the night of his betrayal. Jesus warned his disciples what was about to happen: I tell you the solemn truth, you will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, but your sadness will turn into joy. When a woman gives birth, she has distress because her time has come, but when her child is born, she
April 4, 2018
An Every-Day Resurrection Day Church
By Gary L. Johnson Another Easter weekend has come and gone. Packed worship services were exciting. Music and preaching stirred our celebration of Jesus raised from the dead. And we reveled as we witnessed people being baptized into Christ. It’s no wonder Resurrection Sunday is considered the pinnacle weekend of the year for Christians. What if we could experience Easter weekend every weekend? It seems the first-century church in Jerusalem had a Resurrection Sunday experience not only on the Lord’s Day, but every day, as “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). Can
November 24, 2017
Don”t Drop the Baton
By Gary Johnson Mission: Impossible was one of my favorite television shows as a child. At the start of each episode, agent Jim Phelps would locate a hidden reel-to-reel tape recorder and would play a message describing an “impossible” assignment for his team. Each week, Phelps had a choice to make: “Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it . . .” As elders, we have a mission that we must accept. The mission has everything to do with reaching the next generation for Christ. Most of us have children and grandchildren who need Christ. If we lead by
Escape Eschatology
By Jim Tune Dispensationalists, especially modern dispensationalists, promote an eschatology that amounts to little more than “escapeatology.” Popular treatments of the Olivet Discourse (Mark 13; Mathew 24; Luke 21) and the book of Revelation present an eschatology that induces a mind-set of escapism. And many Christians are eating it up. Consider the popularity of the Left Behind series of books and movies with their view of eschatology as merely a means of future escape from this world, with a corresponding flight from any present responsibility to this world. Escapeatology views Revelation”s portrayal of the new heaven and earth as a reality in the distant
December 21, 2015
Lesson for December 27, 2015: A Generous Gift (Matthew 23:2″“12; Mark 12:38″“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, and has held preaching ministries in Missouri, Illinois, and Colorado. This lesson treatment is published in the December 20 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott Generous gifts and humble deeds sharply contrast with shrunken hearts and hypocritical actions. Today”s lesson shows that contrast in neon lights. The antagonists in the Gospels (the Pharisees, who were actually greatly respected) contrast sharply with a humble widow who made a most generous gift at
March 19, 2015
Feet to Faith
By Peggy Park Brad Johnson and his sons, Matthew, 19, and Niklas, 15, of Tates Creek Christian Church, Lexington, Kentucky, are living out James 2:17: “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” They put feet to their faith for three-plus hours every Sunday afternoon. About two years ago the three started volunteering with Church Under the Bridge, which began its Lexington ministry in May 2003. The church was started by four people from four Lexington churches that had a vision and passion for the needs of street people. The church for indigent/homeless individuals has now
August 30, 2012
The Language of Loneliness
By Daniel Schantz “Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, “˜What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”” (Matthew 26:40*). Thomas Wolfe described loneliness as “the central and inevitable experience of every man,” but when we are lonely, we think no one else on earth understands. Loneliness is everywhere, but it wears many disguises. To the teenage girl, loneliness is an overwhelming pressure to be just like her girlfriends, at any cost. To the college student, it”s going home for the summer to find that home has changed. To the housewife, loneliness
February 15, 2012
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
September 11, 2011
Worshipping When Your World Falls Apart
By Dustin Fulton We all remember where we were on that dreadful September morning 10 years ago. Though the sun was shining and the weather was pleasant across most of America, our hearts were darkened by the images of airplanes crashing into buildings and ash-covered people fleeing what we now simply know as Ground Zero. I happened to be sitting in a seminary classroom at what is now Lincoln Christian University waiting to hear from one of my favorite professors, Dr. Robert Lowery. Before the 8 a.m. class started, a classmate informed us he had heard on the radio about an
February 21, 2011
Lesson for Feb. 27, 2011: Jesus Is Coming Again (Mark 13:14-27)
This week”s treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson (for February 27) is written by M. Y. Perkins, assistant professor of theology and society at Emmanuel School of Religion in Johnson City, Tennessee. ____________ Jesus Is Coming Again (Mark 13:14-27) By M. Y. Perkins Your job is soon to be phased out. You have a terminal disease such as cancer. Your spouse is ending your marriage. If you have ever received or been a close friend to someone who has faced difficult news about the future, you will understand the significance of Jesus” words to his disciples in Mark 13.
January 31, 2010
Balance
By Tom Ellsworth  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).   Six days out of seven they hurried off to work. Toting their specialized tools and equipment, the men were visibly energized by their careers. They always left before dawn and never returned until the last rays of the sun had sleepily disappeared behind the surrounding hills. There were seven in all””men who were totally preoccupied with their jobs. Rumor has it they even whistled while they worked! Then tragedy struck. Late one afternoon when the men
June 14, 2009
Transformed Lives Through God”s Word in Every Language
By Greg Pruett I cocked my ear to one side, straining to understand the faint yelping I was hearing as I blinked a drop of West African dust and sweat out of my eye. I instinctively moved into the high grass to investigate and found a young boy with a long switch relentlessly whipping a starving puppy to near death. I tried to tell him not to do that, but my first week of language learning just wasn”t enough. The boy”s eyes betrayed no shame. Nobody had ever told him the simplest lesson of Genesis my Sunday school teacher
