Articles for tag: Romans

March 1, 2023

Mark E. Moore

What Is Grace?

What Is Grace?

By Mark E. Moore  Question: What do we have to do to be saved?  Every religion has its own answer to this question. Some encourage sacrifice; others, service; others, rituals of purification or meditation. What all (but one) have in common is some human effort to achieve favor with God. This may include knocking on doors with pamphlets, giving away wealth, self-flagellation, or confession and restitution. The common thread, however, is human effort to reach God’s height.   Grace Is God’s Salvation  Christianity alone moves in the opposite direction. Rather than us climbing upward, Christianity asserts that God moved downward. Salvation

September 20, 2022

Christian Standard

Class Goes On: A Tribute to the Life and Teaching of Dr. Jack Cottrell

Tom Claibourne writes: "Since Dr. Jack Cottrell's passing last Friday, I’m sure some have expressed dismay that we have lost not only a good man of God, but a strong, biblical voice still so desperately needed in the Restoration Movement and the wider church world. But is the voice of a truly great teacher ever completely silenced? I think not . . ."

August 14, 2019

Christian Standard

Ozark Profs Share the Bible ‘On Demand’ Via NextLevel

By Jim Nieman In 2016, Ozark Christian College began producing free online teaching videos featuring professors such as Chad Ragsdale, Michael DeFazio, Shane Wood, and Mark Scott. Since that time, the project—known as NextLevel Online—has grown to include 25 different biblical teaching series and 198 free online videos that have been viewed more than 100,000 times by church classes, small groups, student ministries, and individuals in all 50 states and 35 countries. Ozark’s mission is to “train men and women for Christian service,” said Jim Dalrymple, Ozark’s vice president of advancement. “We do this in the classroom every day, and

March 13, 2019

Christian Standard

Stone-Campbell Journal Conference Set for April 5, 6

The 18th annual Stone-Campbell Journal (SCJ) Conference will take place next month at Johnson University Tennessee in Knoxville. The conference will be from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. April 5, and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 6. The theme “Acts and Paul: Another Look” will be developed by Craig Keener, F. M. Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies, Asbury (Ky.) Theological Seminary; Jerry Sumney, professor or biblical studies, Lexington (Ky.) Theological Seminary; and David Fiensy, emeritus professor of biblical studies, Kentucky Christian University in Grayson. Keener will present “Interpreting Acts: The Value of Cultural Background” and “Interpreting Romans: The

August 8, 2018

Christian Standard

Madeline Hansen, Bear Creek Team Win at Bible Bowl (Plus News Briefs)

By Jim Nieman There were at least two “firsts” at this year’s Bible Bowl National Tournament: It was the first time the national event was hosted by a college—in this case, Johnson University Tennessee in Knoxville—and the Individual Written Test saw its first three-time winner: Madeline Hansen of Bear Creek Christian Church, Rochester, Minnesota. And the bad news for the other test takers? Madeline has three more years of eligibility. “What she has done is incredible,” said Josiah Gorman, executive director of Bible Bowl. “She is a very knowledgeable young lady.” Madeline has competed on the Individual Written Test for

June 27, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for July 3, 2016: Needing More Than Law (Romans 2:17″“29)

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 June 26 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  American Express had a commercial: “Membership has its privileges.” But if a member refuses to pay the balance, those privileges are revoked. With privilege comes responsibility. This is the thinking at this point in Romans. To help people appreciate the power of the gospel (Romans 1:16, 17), Paul first had to convince everyone how much they

March 18, 2015

Christian Standard

The Church”s Original Hymnbook

By Jim Tune There is an energy about the Psalms. I love the raw honesty that spills out everywhere as David and others confess their inadequacies, cry out for mercy, or plead for justice to fall viciously on their enemies. The Psalms have a voice of their own. Perhaps that is why the book of Psalms touches me in a way that some others in the Bible do not. A friend once suggested the opposite of Psalms is Romans. I get that. In that rather formal letter, Paul meticulously lays out the foundations of the faith by following a specific

January 30, 2014

Christian Standard

Re:gifting

By Jennifer Johnson According to Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Ephesians, each Christian has been given a spiritual gift as evidence of the Holy Spirit working in his life, and each gift is intended to build up and serve the church. Love that. What I don”t love is that I cannot, for the life of me, figure out my gift. I”ve done all the tests and they”re inconclusive at best””some say one thing, some say another. It”s entirely possible the tests are flawed, not the principle, or that the problem is with me. Then again, many generations of believers built the

September 2, 2012

Christian Standard

Demographic Darwinism and the Church

By Robert Hull I was born in 1943. Demographers are eager to put me in my place, but I”m not sure exactly where that is. They tell me if we stretch the boundaries a little, I”m considered a Baby Boomer (or just a “Boomer”). From the reading I have done lately, I think that”s bad news. Any day now Generation X is going to wrest power from me and my decrepit fellow Boomers, throw us all under the church bus (uh, van), reinvent the church we have loved and served with our idealism, strength, time, and money, and replace it

October 24, 2011

Christian Standard

Getting the Most from the Epistles (Part Two)

By Matt Proctor   We have seen that the New Testament Epistles are published apostolic sermons intended to be read publicly to the recipient churches””with rich theological content, skillful rhetorical crafting, and deeply personal emotion. Now let me suggest five questions that can help you understand these sometimes-difficult books.   Have I Read the Entire Letter? Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart give this challenge: “You need to develop the habit of reading the whole letter through in one sitting. You will need to block out an hour or so to do this, but nothing can ever substitute for this exercise. It is the

July 2, 2006

Christian Standard

Reconciliation and the Restoration Vision

By C. Robert Wetzel It happened to be Remembrance Day when I visited the Church of Christ in Coventry, England. It was now 30 years after the guns of World War II had been silenced. During the worship service that morning an elder shared his memory of that catastrophic night in November 1940 when the German Luftwaffe carpet-bombed this city of 600,000 people. If it was not the first saturation bombing it was certainly the most devastating up to that time. As the elder talked about the suffering, there was no bitterness in his voice toward the Germans; only a

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