November 4, 2025
Ending Your Search … For Significance (Psalm 8)
Your search for significance will never be completely realized here on earth unless it is realized in Jesus Christ. You can never earn what God wants to give you.
Articles for tag: Wonder
November 4, 2025
Wake Up!
This is the fifth in a series of weekly articles based on Christ’s letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. This week’s church is Sardis.
August 5, 2024
COUNTING THE COST
Add up all it could cost you to surrender your life to Christ and compare it to the tremendous price he paid on that tree and the riches of grace and eternal life he offers.
May 1, 2023
In the Beginning
We are just as gullible, just as prone to wander, just as needy as Adam and Eve . . .
April 5, 2021
Apr 11 | Application
Matthew's dinner companions came from different economic levels, but they shared one thing in common: They were all social outcasts.
A Biographical Study of Barton W. Stone (Part 4)
Here is the conclusion of our four-part series on Barton W. Stone, as excerpted from Frederick D. Kershner’s 1940 series on six of the “most significant advocates” of the Restoration Movement. (Click on any of these to read the earlier installments of the series: Part one — part two — part three.) _ _ _ “Stars: Message of Barton Stone” May 4, 1940; p. 7 The first relations of [Alexander] Campbell and [Barton] Stone appear to have been somewhat strained and not altogether cordial. The Kentucky reformer was a little dubious about too much emphasis being placed on water regeneration;
November 9, 2016
Do It Again
By Jim Tune The hardest part of life, one preacher said, is that it”s so daily. Every day the bed needs to be made. Breakfast needs to be cooked. Dishes, dusting, work, and sleep demand our attention every single day. The same with ministry. Many of our churches need hundreds of volunteers to operate every week. The numbers vary depending on the size of the church, but every church needs people to show up and do their job. There”s not much glory in showing up faithfully, but without it we”re sunk. We get tired, though. The thousandth time a husband
March 8, 2016
Surgery and Other Sickness
By Mark A. Taylor “I have visited and prayed with many sick people,” Professor Sherwood Smith told my class at The Cincinnati Bible Seminary more than 40 years ago. “But never did I pray like I did when the patient was my wife.” For some reason that insight has stuck with me all these years, and now it comes into sharper focus as I anticipate my own surgery Thursday this week. “Lord, heal him,” the elders prayed in December, not long after my diagnosis of prostate cancer. “Lord, keep him in the palm of your hand,” the men in my
Plausible Deniability
By Jim Tune In the United Kingdom, members of Parliament have long been allowed to bill taxpayers for the expense of maintaining a second home because they are required to spend time in both London and their home districts. The office responsible for deciding what was reasonable approved nearly every request. Consequently British members of Parliament (MPs) treated it like a big blank check. And because their expenses were hidden from the public, MPs thought they had it made, until a newspaper printed a leaked copy of those expense claims in 2009. Not surprisingly, the MPs had behaved abominably. Many
July 1, 2015
You Will Receive Power
By Jim Tune Luke ends his Gospel with the promise of power from on high (Luke 24:49)””a promise quickly fulfilled with an exclamation mark in the book of Acts, as the Spirit descends on Jesus” disciples at Pentecost. Mark”s Gospel, at least in its longer form, ends with a dramatic promise of signs, of poison swallowed without harm, of snake handling and tongue speaking. So you could be forgiven for harboring expectations of dramatic spiritual ecstasies when the resurrected Christ, invested with all heavenly and earthly authority, promises his presence to the end of the age. Yet the charge Jesus
October 15, 2014
Living with Wonder
By Jim Tune In his book The Melody of Faith: Theology in an Orthodox Key, Vigen Guroian speaks of God as someone more like a musician than a manager, more like an artist than an accountant. He writes: “God is more like a cantor who chants his Creation into existence and rejoices everlastingly over its beautiful harmony. His song continues, and its melody moves and inspires humankind to restore beauty and harmony to a Creation that is fallen and misshapen.” I love the sense of wonder Guroian”s words evoke in my heart. Wonder seems to be in ever short supply
October 18, 2013
Flash Mob
By Mandy Smith On a seemingly ordinary morning, in a busy Belgian train station, the announcements of arrivals and departures were suddenly interrupted by Julie Andrews”s familiar voice intoning, “Let”s start at the very beginning . . .” A few commuters paused for a second to wonder why the train station would air “Do-Re-Mi,” before returning to their morning rush. Then, in the center of the atrium”s tiled floor, a single man started to dance, and before long a passing little girl had joined in. A crowd began to form to watch the spectacle but, at each measure, members of
September 6, 2013
Their Witness, and Ours
By David Ray If only trees could talk . . . Outside the walls of Jerusalem, across the Kidron Valley and near the foot of a rising hillside, was a garden called Gethsemane. It held a grove of olive trees, perhaps privately owned and set off from public space, but graciously made available to Jesus and his disciples whenever needed. A place of quiet retreat, it was far enough away to escape the hectic press of the city, but still close enough to see the temple clearly. By day, the garden was a cooler place, with shade found under
Elder Governance: Everybody”s Concern
By Mark A. Taylor Some readers may feel this week”s articles don”t apply to them. “I”m not an elder, and I”ll never be one.” “I sometimes wonder what happens in those elders meetings, but not enough to think about how they could be better.” “Governance? What is elder governance? We just approve the bills and try to keep the preacher on the right track. Governance is too fancy a word for what we do in our monthly meetings.” But think carefully about Don Green”s ideas andGary Johnson”s experience, and you”ll see that elder governance can revolutionize how a church functions.
January 21, 2009
Notes From a Trip to a Place I Never Thought I”d Visit
By Mark A. Taylor The notion of visiting the nation of Jordan had never entered my mind. But now that I”ve gone, I”d recommend the trip to anyone. In eight days last November, almost 20 Christian writers, editors, and reporters had the chance to taste the delights of Jordan in a tour arranged just for us. For many it was a first-time visit. For most, it won”t be the last. Many readers of Christian Standard might wonder whether to include a visit to Jordan in a Holy Land tour itinerary. Definitely, I”d say, “Go there!” Visit to see biblical sites
September 2, 2007
At the Foot of the Cross
By Lee Magness You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6-8). There they stood at the foot of the cross, stood not kneeled, priests and scribes, their eyes squinting to slits in the noonday sun, squinting like the sightless pretending to see. They were blinded by years of looking through
