June 3, 2025
The Sheep’s Psalm
Here we celebrate the unspeakable liberty and joy of being a sheep within the fold of Christ, and here we proclaim the Lord’s overcoming death, until he comes again.
Articles for tag: Psalm 2
April 14, 2025
Weak End, Strong Start
Three days after the darkness of Calvary, God used the cross and the empty tomb to display his resurrection power, offering living hope and a fresh new start to all who feel forsaken.
September 1, 2023
Embrace Hope
A Biblical Character Study By Doug Redford In the first part of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, entitled “Inferno” (Italian for Hell), Dante comes across the gates of Hell during his travels. There he sees these ominous words etched above the entrance to the underworld: “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.” But when one enters the world of the Bible and travels through the landscape of its contents, a far different message resounds throughout its pages. That message is, “Embrace hope, all ye who enter here.” Paul’s words in Romans 15:4 affirm this invitation: “For everything that was written in
July 1, 2023
God’s Answer in My Distress
My Cancer Battle Has Made Me a Better Preacher and Leader
February 6, 2023
February 12 | Courage to Take a Risk
When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he set right to work. . . . Nehemiah was willing to risk it all to ensure that Jerusalem would be rebuilt so that one day the good news would come out of Zion.
January 9, 2023
January 15 | Application (‘Traveling on a Rough Road’)
The book of Ezra tells how a group of exiled Jews traveled back to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s temple, but it wasn’t a smooth and easy journey. Their story reveals some principles that can help us travel rough roads of our own.
November 14, 2022
November 20 | Application (‘The Strangest Verse in the 23rd Psalm’)
"One part of the 23rd Psalm puzzles me," David Faust writes. "It’s the verse that says, 'You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies' (Psalm 23:5a). Who wants to sit at a table surrounded by enemies?"
November 14, 2022
November 20 | Discovery
How has God protected you and provided for you over the past year?
November 7, 2022
November 13 | Discovery
In what ways have you seen God use the weakest of things (such as children and infants) to build a stronghold and deter his enemies?
October 4, 2021
Oct. 10 | Designated by God to Be High Priest
No one can simply decide they want to be a priest, let alone the high priest. God alone can do this. Not even Jesus just showed up and expected to serve in that office. He needed to be designated by God—and he was.
November 22, 2020
Inconvenient Christmas
I awoke to a picture-perfect Christmas. The world glistened under a blanket of sparkling white snow. The bad news. I had duty with the volunteer ambulance service that day. When my EMT neighbor discovered I was an RN, he talked me into joining his team. I never envisioned how my commitment might inconvenience my family. Our children, still in their fuzzy new pajamas, clamored to open Christmas presents. I hugged them. “I’m so sorry. I need you to help your dad and me shovel snow from our driveway. I’m on ambulance-call today and can’t get the car out.” We bundled
December 17, 2018
Lesson for December 23, 2018: Whole Prophecy (Luke 2:1-14)
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. 13 (weeks 49–53; December 9–30, 2018) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ Lesson Aim: Marvel at how God wholly fulfilled prophetic promises in Jesus. ______ By Mark Scott One evidence that the Bible is divine is the record of fulfilled predictive prophecies. The Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years by at least 40 different human writers. The evidence of fulfilled prophecy is extremely faith
September 12, 2017
Don’t Let the Sheep Lead the Flock
By Michael C. Mack God often leads us as his leaders, and thus those we lead, on roads we never planned on traveling. Several months ago, I was leading a training event at a church in Central Illinois. As I left my home near Louisville, Kentucky, I set the route in the maps app on my phone and headed out. About two hours in, the app told me to exit the highway at least 30 miles before my next designated turn. I took the exit and then looked at my phone to see where it was taking me. It looked
October 10, 2016
Lesson for October 16, 2016: The Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14″“5:10)
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 October 9 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott The Bible is full of priests. There is a sense in which all of God”s people are priests (Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6). But there is another sense in which certain people were called especially to represent God to the people and to represent the people to God. Some of these priests were exemplary
August 31, 2015
Lesson for September 6, 2015: Praying for Boldness (Acts 4:23-31)
This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Dr. Mark Scott, who teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. Scott has also held preaching ministries in Missouri, Illinois, and Colorado. This treatment is published in the August 30 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott Lots of things qualify as “acts” in the Book of Acts””miracles, speeches, encounters, persecutions, and even prayers. Prayer is an act. Persecution against the earliest church made prayer a red-hot act. This is the second prayer in Acts in which we are told the
July 20, 2015
Lesson for July 26, 2015: God’s Matchless Mercy (Micah 7:11-20)
This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. It is published in the July 19 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Sam E. Stone This month our study has focused on the message of another of the minor prophets””Micah. As Allen A. MacRae pointed out, “Micah”s message alternates between oracles of doom and oracles of hope. The theme is judgment and deliverance by God. Micah also stresses that God hates idolatry, injustice, rebellion and empty ritualism, but he delights in pardoning the penitent. The
April 22, 2015
World on Trial
By Jim Tune Henri Nouwen tells about a doctor in Paraguay who spoke out against the oppressive tyranny of the government. The local police took revenge against him by arresting his teenage son and torturing the boy to death. It was a brutal and senseless murder. The boy”s courageous father responded with the most powerful protest imaginable. At the funeral, the father did not have his son”s body cleaned up and embalmed. Instead, he displayed it as he found it in the jail: naked, scarred, twisted, with open wounds from the beatings and burns from cigarette butts. All the villagers
April 12, 2015
How Should Christians Suffer?
By Mark W. Hamilton The Bible helps us answer the question. A good beginning point is in the psalms of lament. Pain and suffering. This word pair names one of the most difficult problems facing Christian faith and practice today. Some Christians seek to dodge the problem by imagining that suffering always marks the presence of sin and that God, because he is good, wishes us to escape pain in all instances. This despite the obvious facts that the pain of Jesus lies at the very heart of the gospel, and that he called us to imitate him as suffering
April 6, 2015
Forgiving God
By Chad Ragsdale Not long ago I was asked to preach a sermon as part of a series on forgiveness. It was a good idea for a series. There are few things as “Christian” as forgiveness. My topic was a little different from the ordinary sermon on forgiveness, however. I was asked to preach a sermon on forgiving God. I admit I didn”t have the best attitude about the topic. Forgiving God seems like a modern man”s dilemma. Modern man has attempted to kill God but continues to be haunted by his presence. God, the hero, is dismissed and mocked
April 22, 2013
Restoring God”s Justice
By Jason Rodenbeck Friday night I watched celebration on the news. The second Boston Marathon bomber had been captured. A city was finally resting after a horrific nightmare. And an angry (and increasingly frightened) nation breathed a sigh of relief. Why “frightened?” Whether because there are more of them or we are just hearing about more of them, tragedies like this one seem more prevalent and closer to home than ever. Even in a country where we generally feel safe and secure, we feel a growing uneasiness as the world seems to spin out of control. There is evil everywhere
