Articles for tag: Resurrection

The Eyes of Jesus

By Tom Claibourne Jesus’ eyes must have been quite similar to ours, but he didn’t always look at things the way we do. He saw things from an eternal perspective. Therefore, when Jesus walked out of Nazareth to begin his ministry, his eyes saw things we usually do not see. He saw the spiritual battle that rages between God’s angelic hosts and Satan’s demonic forces. He saw beyond the surface. Jesus saw people’s hearts, along with their needs and potential. When others saw filthy, sinful women (Luke 7; John 4 and 8), Jesus saw women who had taken some wrong

September 18, 2018

Communion & Lord's Supper Theology & Bible

Awaiting a Wedding Feast

By Mandy Smith First Corinthians 11:26 says: “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” So simply by taking this bread and juice today, we remember and retell the story of Jesus’ death, every time, over and over again. We keep telling the story as we eat the bread and as we sip the juice. We tell it to ourselves as we taste it and we tell it to each other as we do it together. Christians have been doing this for thousands of years, and Christians will do this

June 18, 2018

Mark Scott

Bible Study Theology & Bible

Lesson for June 24, 2018: Reaping God’s Justice (Luke 16:19-31)

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. 6 (weeks 25–28; June 24—July 15, 2018) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott Reaping is the language of harvest in the Bible, and therefore sometimes reaping is a metaphor for judgment (Hosea 8:7; Revelation 14:15, 16). The law of harvest is universally true. You reap what you sow (Galatians 6:7). But it is uniquely true when it comes to the use of our

May 22, 2018

Battlefield Sacrifice

By Rick Chromey This weekend marks the unofficial beginning of summer, but it’s also when we pause to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Since 1970, the last Monday of May has been designated as Memorial Day. It’s an annual sacred holiday to remember our fallen soldiers. Jesus taught his disciples, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Friends will do that for friends. A friend will honorably take a bullet for a buddy, but those who serve in our military often die for people they

May 1, 2018

A Divine Springtime

By Rick Chromey Spring is a beautiful time of year. Flowers bloom. Trees bud. Babies are everywhere. Daylight saving time provides an extra hour of sun nightly. Barbecues, backyards, and baseball are back. Springtime is a testimony to God’s redemption. As temperatures warm, the snow and ice melt, the days lengthen, and a new world emerges from winter hibernation. What was dead now has life. What was brown now is green. What was dark now is light. It’s no wonder God used the spring of the year to release his final redemptive act to mankind. The Easter story is perfectly

April 4, 2018

Gary L. Johnson

Church Life

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

April 1, 2018

‘If Christ Be Not Raised . . .’

By Mark E. Moore The resurrection is the bedrock of Christianity. If it is not true, everything crumbles. Paul testified to this, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14*). Thus the question, Did Jesus rise from the dead? is one we must answer to determine if faith in Christ is well-founded or a farce. To that end we will address two profoundly important questions: Why should I believe Jesus rose from the dead? And if this is true, then why does it matter? WHY SHOULD

March 31, 2018

How Easter Got Hacked

Why the Good News of the Death, Burial, and Resurrection Is More Relevant Than Ever By Haydn Shaw Malware can mess up your life by allowing hackers free access to your computer. That’s exactly what has happened to Christianity; it’s being replaced by something that looks similar to Christianity but without the power of Easter. It wasn’t until sociologist Christian Smith and his team talked to teenagers that it became obvious how badly Christianity had been hacked. As detailed in his book Soul Searching (2005), Smith and his team interviewed more than 3,000 millennials, ages 13 to 18, to

March 30, 2018

The Forensics of Good Friday

An ER Doctor Examines What Jesus Experienced from the Garden to the Cross By Dwain C. Illman The resurrection is the keystone and the capstone of Christian belief. The crucifixion was required as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Every time I read Isaiah 53, I’m filled with awe and sadness as I marvel at detailed predictions surrounding our Savior. Consider Isaiah 53:5: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” As a physician who saw some

March 29, 2018

Jerry Harris

Bible Study Theology & Bible

Just One Thing

By Jerry Harris Just one thing. That’s what it all comes down to. Paul made it abundantly clear in 1 Corinthians 15:14-19: And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised,

March 26, 2018

Mark Scott

Lesson for April 1, 2018: He Has Risen (Luke 24:1-12, 30-35)

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 13–16; April 1–22, 2018) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott Some historians trace the origin of April Fool’s Day to between the 14th and the 16th centuries—some trace it clear back to the time of Noah. The original name may have been “All Fool’s Day.” Regardless of its origin, April Fool’s Day celebrates foolishness, naiveté, and gullibility. But the resurrection of

March 25, 2018

Surprised by Life

(This article originally appeared in the April 2013 issue of Christian Standard) By Daniel Schantz To a child, a cemetery is the perfect playground. It has a hundred hiding places, and if you fall down, the grass is very forgiving. I was 7 years old, playing hide-and-seek in the cemetery next to the country church, just outside of New Antioch, Ohio, where my father preached. “Don’t play on the graves,” my mother warned. “It’s disrespectful.” “OK,” I said, but I didn’t see it her way. I thought that if I were buried in the ground I would get really

March 18, 2018

Mission & Evangelism

A Secret We Must Tell

(The essay originally appeared online April 12, 2009.) ________ By Arron Chambers Can you keep a secret? Stephen and Louise couldn’t. “Our son became an astronaut today.” On September 17, 1962—in one of the most interesting segments of game show history—Stephen and Louise Armstrong appeared on I’ve Got a Secret with the secret that their son Neil had just been selected to be an astronaut. Neil was one of nine new men so chosen. What made this appearance especially unique was that host Garry Moore asked Louise an incredible question: “Now, how would you feel, Mrs. Armstrong, if it turned

March 15, 2018

Michael C. Mack

Mission & Evangelism

Go and Tell

By Michael C. Mack I have learned some of the most vital lessons from some of the most unlikely people in Scripture. Mary Magdalene is one of them. A most pivotal day in her life started “while it was still dark” (John 20:1). As she went to the tomb, her life epitomized what our lives would look like without knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection—dark and hopeless. But the resurrection changes everything. A day that began in darkness ended with her radiant proclamation, “I have seen the Lord!” (v. 18). Mary was the first to view the empty

March 13, 2018

Bible Study Theology & Bible

Worship Worship & Prayer

The Presence of the Resurrected Christ

By Dick Wamsley In an article in Worship Leader from 1993, Robert Webber wrote, “In early Christian worship . . . the giving of thanks was not a sober recall of the death of Jesus, but a joyous response to the presence of the resurrected Christ.” He cited the experiences of the earliest Christians when they came together to “break bread” (Acts 2:42), connecting those experiences with the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus recorded in Luke 24 and John 21. Luke records the appearance of Jesus to Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus. Even though Jesus walked with

February 26, 2018

Mark Scott

Lesson for March 4, 2018: The Lord Will Provide (Genesis 22:1-3, 6-14)

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. 9–12 (March 4–25, 2018) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott First there was Knowing God by J. I. Packer (1993). Then there was Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and Claude King (1990). In this series of lessons we will emphasize Acknowledging God. To acknowledge means “to recognize authority or status; to take notice; or to express gratitude.” In acknowledging God we express gratitude

December 21, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

Worship Worship & Prayer

The Truth About Christmas

This Christmas editorial fromÂ December 25, 2005,Â was written by Mark A. Taylor, who served as editor of Christian Standard from 2003 until earlier this year. ___ By Mark A. Taylor Because I’m a romantic, I love all the traditions and fun of Christmastime. But this year some national magazine editors don’t seem to share my nostalgic attachment to the holiday. In fact, I wonder if they enjoy Christmas at all, since they’ve printed so much about how simply to survive it. For example, here are warnings contained in just one of my December magazines: “¢ If you don”t handle leftovers properly,

November 16, 2017