August 19, 2024
AUGUST 25 STUDY | THOUGHTFUL RELATIONSHIPS
God sent Malachi to Israel to warn them that they were not stewarding thoughtful relationships at home or keeping an eye on their doctrine.
Articles for tag: Widows And Orphans
March 4, 2024
March 10 Application | ‘Lowercase Leaders’
Uppercase leaders demand attention; lowercase leaders quietly do God’s work. . . .
September 7, 2021
Where Have All the Deacons Gone? (Part 2 or 3)
Part 2 of 3: Who to Select and How They Should Function — Four scriptural texts help shape our understanding . . .
October 24, 2020
Bangladesh Math
Going to Bangladesh was not my idea. As an expatriate living and working in South Korea, I already spent my days navigating cultural differences and chipping away at language barriers. But, since I had also recently become co-leader of the missions team at church, when it came time for our biannual trip to Bangladesh, I was informed it was “my turn.” And, just for good measure, I was “in charge.” I admit, I didn’t welcome this news with unrestrained joy. Still, I supported the aims of the trip. Our destination in Bangladesh was a small, experimental community created for widows
May 25, 2020
Lesson for May 31, 2020: The Look of Integrity (Job 27:1-6; 31:5, 6, 16-23)
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 May 2020 issue of Christian Standard + The Lookout. (Subscribe to our print edition.) ________ COMPANION RESOURCES: Application: “Time to Adjust the Seat,” by David Faust Discovery Questions ________ Lesson Aim: Seek and embrace integrity through consistent acts of love. ________ By Mark Scott Integrity is a subject of much discussion today—perhaps because there is so little of it. It means living an undivided life. It means doing what
April 8, 2017
The Battle Is the Lord”s
By David Wright With full-scale war exploding all around him, this man moves ahead with his ministry. Zhenia is a minister and church planter. He is married and has a teenage daughter. He earned an MA in practical theology from TCM International Institute in 2012. He now serves as senior minister for five Ukrainian churches near the Crimean Peninsula. As a young Bible student at Tavriski Christian Institute, his desire was to “preach to millions.” “But,” he says, “God told me, “˜If you”re so sharp to preach to millions, you really need to start with something small.” God blessed us
November 7, 2016
Pursuing Justice in an Unjust World
By Mark W. Hamilton What does a just community look like? Is the American church such a community? Do we live out the call of the prophet Micah to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before God?”* These questions confront anyone who studies the history of American Christianity. From that history we learn that Christians used the Bible to defend slavery and oppose it, to silence women and empower them, to cheer on Bull Connor”s corrupt police in Birmingham, Alabama, and to walk through hostile crowds in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Selma, Alabama, during the civil rights movement. Today,
August 17, 2015
Lesson for August 23, 2015: A Demand for Justice (Zechariah 7; Isaiah 30:18-26)
This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. It is published in the August 16 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Sam E. Stone The people of Israel were taken captive to Babylon. After 70 years, God allowed a remnant of his people to return to the promised land. There they set about to rebuild the temple. Although this effort began with much excitement and devotion, the project slowed considerably (Haggai 1). The Lord sent Haggai and Zechariah as prophets to encourage the people to
June 18, 2012
Lesson for June 24, 2012: Love God; Love People (Deuteronomy 10:1-22; 16:18-20)
This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. ______ By Sam E. Stone Today”s suggested devotional reading, Micah 6:1-8, presents the same principles taught in our printed text. Both passages show the importance God places on how his people treat others. All of our lessons so far this quarter have been based on sections of “the law,” the first five books of the Old Testament. The book called Deuteronomy literally means “second law.” Moses had given the law to the people at Mount Sinai years before. But because of
March 12, 2011
A Dangerous Book
By Pat Magness “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27, King James Version). I don”t recall ever hearing a sermon on this verse. It doesn”t get read at weddings, funerals, ordinations, or baptisms. It probably isn”t on anyone”s top-10 list of best-loved Scripture passages; yet this little verse once turned my life upside down and has affected me ever since. Isn”t it strange how a verse that has always been there, quietly unobtrusive in its place, suddenly
November 25, 2007
Praying with Tears
By Jan Johnson A frequent cause of traffic jams on highways in my area is the “Looky Lou” habit of drivers who slow down to examine accidents on the side of the road. Usually an ambulance has already arrived so it”s not as if people want to help. They just to want to look. Similarly, when public tragedies occur, we find ourselves hooked on monitoring news coverage. At first, this helps us move through the shock phase of grief, but then it comes to resemble that morbid “Looky Lou” phenomenon. Perhaps we do this because we don”t know what else
