Have you ever played a game called “telephone”? It is also known as “grapevine”, “broken telephone”, “gossip”, “secret message”, “chinese whispers”, and “pass the message”. In the United States, “telephone” is the most common name for the game. To play the game, you must line up as many players as …
It is interesting, because yesterday I heard a preacher say that we are living in the “New Dark Ages”, and I was expecting to hear a sermon about how we need a new reformation in the church, but instead he preached about how we need to cling to our “Traditions, …
I would like to take a moment to address professional pastors and clergy in this note. Please take a moment to consider the things I am about to say with an open heart and mind. Listen to the voice of the LORD. Hear His heart, and consider how it affects …
I have come to realize that we regularly encounter a number of oxymorons when we discuss things relating to church. An “oxymoron” is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms. Oxymorons appear in a variety of contexts, including inadvertent errors such as ground pilot and literary oxymorons crafted to reveal a paradox. Some examples …
Jesus taught a lot about authority, but his teachings differ significantly from our modern understanding of authority in the church. Basically there are two kinds of authority: authority that is taken, and authority that is given. The kind of authority that is taken by rulers who “lord it over” people …
In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul is giving instructions on what the Church gatherings should look like. According to Paul, every member of the Church Body should participate in the worship and teaching aspects of the Church. Everyone has a hymn (song), a word of instruction (teaching), a revelation (what God …
I have been doing a lot of study of the New Testament Church and how it compares to our modern Church, and my eyes are being opened to a whole new way of understaning things. While studying the role of the preacher, I found out some very interesting things, and …
I have heard many preachers quote the scriptures that say “a worker deserves his wages” in reference to the pastor getting paid a salary from the church. It is interesting that the context of this verse has nothing to do with pastors, and it has nothing to do with money. …
Jesus often taught using parables, and one of the most popular of these stories is that of a farmer spreading seed on the ground. For many people, this parable has become so commonplace that its message is often lost in the mundane reading of it. However, I believe that this …
I have been thinking about a difficult question recently – who should we give our charity to? To answer this question, I think we should take a look at the New Testament, to see how the Church handled its charitable giving in the beginning. We find in the New Testament …