Cleansing
By Randy Ballinger Sin is a pervasive contaminant. Sin originates in the forbidden desire of humans, but it results in death (James 1:14-15). Even creation groans because of the corruption brought...
View ArticleIt’s All About Jesus
By Melinda Gividen We can’t open our Bibles without being reminded that Jesus’ life fulfilled every promise God ever made. All the stories—even the ones that were complicated, seemed impossible, or...
View ArticleTwo Different Men
By Stuart Powell When we gather for Communion, we focus our thoughts on the historical account of one man’s death on a tree just outside Jerusalem on a Friday afternoon more than 2,000 years ago. The...
View ArticleVisible Reminders
By Stuart Powell The temple Solomon built in Jerusalem was a magnificent structure modeled after the tent Moses and Israel first set up at Mount Sinai. The temple had a courtyard where the altar for...
View ArticleFlesh and Blood
By Stuart Powell As Paul was instructing the church at Corinth about the reality of the resurrection of the dead, he declared that our sin-stained physical bodies face a barrier to God’s holiness...
View ArticleHe Himself Is Our Peace
By Randy Ballinger It was anything but peaceful when peace came to this world. It started peacefully enough—a meal shared by 13 close friends who had spent three years together. But this was to be the...
View ArticleA Rooster Reminder
By Ben Stroup The sound of a rooster crowing probably sent shivers down Peter’s spine for the rest of his life. On that fateful night in the temple court, after his third denial, that familiar sound...
View ArticleEveryday Halloween
By Jon Wren Whether kids walk the streets of the neighborhood, have a costume parade at their school, or wander the church parking lot at a “trunk or treat,” almost all children participate in some...
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Battlefield Communion
A New Zealand chaplain gives Holy Communion to kneeling soldiers near the firing line at Messines Ridge in Belgium in 1917. (Photo by Henry Armytage Sanders. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.) By Stuart...
View ArticleUnderstanding God’s Grace
By Randy Ballinger The apostle Paul commended the believers in Colossae about how “the gospel is bearing fruit and growing . . . as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly...
View ArticleThanksgiving
By Manndi DeBoef At this time of year, we reflect upon that for which we are thankful—family, friends, homes, jobs, children, financial security, food, freedom. . . . There seems to be a list of...
View ArticleCrushing God
By Stuart Powell In Ezekiel 6, God declared his judgment against the unfaithful in Judah who were not carried off in the first wave of exiles. He did this because they persisted in their rebellion....
View ArticleProclaim the Savior
By Diane Stortz I’m sure you’ve seen and heard the recent proclamations. Retailers’ shelves have overflowed for weeks with wrapping paper, wreaths, and wind-up reindeer. Carols mingle with Christmas...
View ArticleThe Cross of Christmas
By Diane Stortz Have you ever noticed how the presence of a baby or a young child changes the dynamics of a sad situation? The crotchety great-uncle you haven’t spoken to in years just might turn up...
View ArticleHear the Bells Again
By Randy Ballinger Christmas Day 1863 was not joyful for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. On that day, he was concerned his eldest son would not survive surgery after being shot while serving as a soldier...
View ArticleThey Are New Every Morning
By Scott Franks The first day of a brand-new year. That sounds so promising, doesn’t it? A clean slate, a fresh start, a whole calendar of pristine potential. The idea of newness is so compelling that...
View ArticleOur Hope
By Stuart Powell The writer of Hebrews finished describing the faithfulness of ancient believers by pointing out that their hope was unfulfilled in their lifetime. All these people were still living...
View ArticleThe Look
By Stuart Powell After an offending action or word, we all likely have been on the receiving end of “the look” from someone we cherish. The eye contact transports us to an earlier conversation or...
View ArticleExtremist for Love
By Stuart Powell One written work that demonstrates the gospel’s influence on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In it, King answered a group of clergymen who...
View ArticleDraining the Cup
By Randy Ballinger The theme of Hebrews 2 is the honor due Jesus because of his suffering on our behalf. A specific phrase deserves attention: “. . . that by the grace of God he might taste death for...
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