September 5, 2022
September 11 | Discovery
How do memories from your past help you to live more faithfully today?
Articles for tag: Michael C. Mack
September 1, 2022
The Church’s Identity Issue
By Michael C. Mack Never has our culture been more perplexed about how to answer the seemingly simple question, “Who am I?” It’s hardly a surprise: The more the world drifts from the Creator, the more people struggle with their identity. We lose our sense of who we are when we forget whose we are. Satan is complicit, of course, in this case of identity theft. In this issue, we address various matters of identity today. Our writers look at identity biblically, speaking truth in love, with a positive, humble attitude. And we hope our readers will have a similar
August 29, 2022
September 4 | Discovery
How can you be a spiritual “watchman” for others? For whom will you “sound the trumpet” to warn them about impending spiritual danger?
August 8, 2022
Enough
Have you ever heard someone say there are many ways to Heaven and that Christians are narrow-minded to think Jesus is the only way? God’s Word is unambiguous and unequivocal about this topic. . . .
July 4, 2022
More Than Characters
Authors, artists, composers, architects, and car restorers are all creators who develop attachments to their work. Have you ever heard someone refer to something they’ve created as their “baby”? God feels that way about us.
How God Plans to Make America (and All Nations) Great Again
Many American churchgoers are asking: “When will God bring revival to this nation and restore our Christian foundations?” The desire for a country based on Christian morality and for revival is not unlike the concern in Jesus’ day for the restoration of Israel, its freedom, and economic prosperity. . . .
July 1, 2022
Health: Give Careful Attention!
By Michael C. Mack Why are we committing an entire issue to health? Because health begets growth, good fruit, and reproduction for God’s people, our families, our churches, and the future of our movement. (Of course, unhealthy things can also grow, bear fruit, and multiply, but we don’t want them to!) We all desire health in the various arenas of our lives, but we may not be very mindful of it . . . until something happens and our health is jeopardized. I know what I’m talking about. In October 2021, I was mountain biking with a friend in Brown
June 20, 2022
Boasting in Our Weaknesses
By Michael C. Mack As the apostle Paul told his story, he wrote, But [the Lord] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me (2 Corinthians 12:9). Most of us are good at boasting about our strengths: our natural abilities, our giftedness, and the talents we have worked hard to develop. We have physical strengths, intellectual capacities, emotional competence, relational aptitudes, and spiritual giftedness. There are even assessments that measure our strengths.
June 13, 2022
Honor the Father
By Michael C. Mack Today is Father’s Day, a day we set aside to love and honor our dads. And it’s good that we do so! The fifth commandment instructs God’s people to “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you” (Deuteronomy 5:16). The commandment is repeated several times through Scripture. Jesus discussed it in his teachings, and the apostle Paul referred to it as he taught Christ followers how to live together in Christian households. So, it is right and proper to give honor to our dads. But we must remember that we
May 1, 2022
Online Attendance: The Exception or the Rule?
You may notice changes in our 2021_Church_Report. We’ll blame COVID-19—at least partially. It’s the fashionable thing to do these days . . . and the pandemic has had a huge impact. Before 2020 and coronavirus, online streaming of worship services was the exception rather than the rule for many churches. A 2019 Lifeway Research study showed that 22 percent of churches were streaming their services at that time. But within months of the start of the pandemic in early 2020, 97 percent of churches were providing some form of online services. The exception became the rule and vice versa. Before
April 11, 2022
April 17 | Discovery
Jesus committed himself into God’s hands (Luke 23:46). How can you follow the example of Christ in your commitment to him?
March 28, 2022
April 3 | Discovery
In Luke 7:11-23, how does Jesus' presence lead to a display of his power, which leads to an understanding of his purpose?
March 21, 2022
Focus
By Michael C. Mack Focus is vital for success in many areas of our lives. One place we see this illustrated is in sports. A wide receiver in football runs the right route and then focuses on the ball into his hands, regardless of all the other things going on around him, even to the point of getting hit once he catches the ball. A basketball player focuses intently on the front of the rim as she prepares to shoot a free throw. She has trained herself to ignore the screaming of the opposing fans and those waving wacky signs
March 17, 2022
The Power of Unity: A Call to Shift from Enemies to Allies
Have we as Christians—conservative and liberal, independent and denominational, etc.—forgotten that we are not each other’s enemies . . . that we all have a common enemy in Satan?
March 14, 2022
March 20 | Discovery
What do you learn about God's sovereignty, grace, and patience from Romans 11:11-32?
March 7, 2022
March 13 | Discovery
How would you summarize the struggle between the desire to do good and the allurement of evil?
March 3, 2022
UKRAINE: 31 Days of Prayer and Fasting
On March 1, I joined IDES’s “31 Days of Prayer and Fasting.” Each day I receive an email from IDES with prayer points to cover for Ukraine that day. I encourage you to join me and many others.
March 1, 2022
The Power of Authenticity
When I was about 10 years old, I made friends with two brothers in my neighborhood, Tim and Jeff Ward. Perhaps because I didn’t have a brother living at home, or just for fun, I told them I had a twin brother named Mark. We would be playing Wiffleball, and I’d go home, change clothes, and come back as Mark. To help the ruse, I batted right-handed as Mike and left-handed as Mark. At first Mike was a better batter, but Mark steadily improved (which is how I became a decent switch-hitter). After several weeks, Tim and Jeff started getting
March 1, 2022
Authentic Leadership
By Michael C. Mack What is authentic Christian leadership? It may be best to begin with how it’s different from secular leadership. Authentic Christian leadership is a lifelong process. I’ve seen secular self-help books and blogs that provide simple steps to leadership, but becoming a leader after God’s own heart takes constant, everyday, deep-rooted transformation of the mind and heart as led by the Holy Spirit. Christian leadership happens first in loving, abiding communion with God, and second, in the environment of loving community with others. It’s rare to hear secular leadership described using the word love, but Christian leadership
February 28, 2022
March 6 | Discovery
What does the contrast between being slaves to sin/impurity and being slaves to obedience/righteousness teach you about how to live a holy life?
