THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF APRIL IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN UPSIDE DOWN MAYBE? My April issue of The Christian Chronicle, "An international newspaper for Churches of Christ," arrived in today's postal mail delivery. Emblazoned across the top of page one, the banner headline screamed, "Church in decline: U.S. culture to blame?" Before I could consciously consider its meaning, another headline raced through my mind as likely stating more truth: "U.S. culture in decline: church to blame?" MEET THE FAMILY Yes, GracEmail is now in its 20th year and subscribers really do … [Read more...]
IS THIS EVANGELISM?
THE TWELFTH DAY OF APRIL IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN Today we are accustomed to hearing the gospel presented as if it were addressed to one person at a time, assuring him or her of Gods provision for sin through Jesus death and resurrection, and urging that person to make a decision for Christ, to profess faith in him, to be baptized and begin to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ. The payoff or reward for this will be to escape the punishment that awaits the unredeemed, and to enjoy eternal life with God and with his people forever. It is not that those details … [Read more...]
Family Notes 08/04/2015
THE EIGHTH DAY OF APRIL IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN BRAZIL ENCOURAGEMENT Jesus man and gracEmail subscriber Larry Zinck reports from Rio de Janeiro that more than 500 brothers from all over Brazil were present on a recent weekend for an annual mens retreat, spending two uplifting days singing and praying together. Teaching was encouraging and also challenging. It was a time of renewing old friendships and making new ones. Larry comments: "Times like this make us stop and think how wonderful heaven will be!" WORLD RELIGIONS 2050 The Pew Research Center has … [Read more...]
HE IS RISEN INDEED!
THE FIFTH DAY OF APRIL IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN The acknowledgement came slowly and with much hesitation, but the sequestered disciples finally said it: The Lord is risen." Indeed (Lk. 24:34). This from Jesus hardcore survivors. Roughly ten dozen of them--if anyone is counting. Unlike other rabbinic clusters, this one includes women right alongside the men. To Jesus they all are the same, but most males in the company will die before they share his thinking on this point. So here they are this Sunday morning, 120 men and women waiting together for God knows … [Read more...]
WHEN IS THE RESURRECTION?
THE FIRST DAY OF APRIL IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN A gracEmail subscriber recently attended two funerals at which the pastor said the deceased had experienced their resurrections. This subscriber believes that the resurrection will take place at Christ's return. "Is there a biblical basis," he asks, "for believing that Christians who die now experience their resurrection before that?" * * *Unless I am badly confused, Paul states unequivocally that all the redeemed, now living and dead, will be caught up together one day to join the Lord. That … [Read more...]
THIS IS HOW GOD LOVED (2 of 2)
THE TWENTY-NINTH DAY OF MARCH IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN Click here for Part 1 We are thinking about three sentences in a context, of which John 3:16 is the second, central, and climactic sentence. The statement that God "so loved" does not describe the intensity or extent of his love (as if it said "s-o-o-o loved") but rather tells "how" God loved--it is the same "so" we saw in the first sentence and, like that one, it points to the text immediately before it. How did God love the world? The answer is found in an old story about poisonous snakes. "As Moses … [Read more...]
THIS IS HOW GOD LOVED (1 of 2)
THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF MARCH IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN We are familiar with Jesus' comforting words in John 3:16 about God's love and the believer's eternal life. But, as my preacher Jeff Christian noted recently, we often read or quote verse 16 in total isolation, are surprised to discover that the verse has a context, and are shocked to realize what that context says. In fact, John 3:16 is the climactic center and high point of four supposed-to-be-inseparable verses (John 3:14- 17) that include the two sentences Jesus spoke immediately before and after it. … [Read more...]
Family notes 03/18/2015
THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF MARCH IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN CHRISTIAN MOVIES - ROUND TWO - GracEmail subscriber and movie producer Pat Arrabito brought the following to our attention -- "College basketballs March Madness is underway . . . But here at ChristianCinema.com, the madness has already divided our field in half! . . . In Faith & Theology, Hell and Mr. Fudge pulled off the first upset of the tourney . . . over popular favorite Heaven is for Real . . . With the win, Mr. Fudge earns the right to go up against creationist documentary God of Wonders for a shot at … [Read more...]
THE LAW FULFILLED IN US
THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF MARCH IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN RADIO GUEST TONIGHT -- God willing, I will be the sole guest tonight on "The Bible Live" program on Radio Station KSLR (AM-630) in San Antonio, Texas from 9:30-10:30 pm with host Newman (Soapy) Dollar. I have been asked to present the biblical case for the final end of the unrepentant. Listen via internet! Catch program live streaming at www.KSLR.com. We have seen that Jesus did not come to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill them, by filling them full of meaning and application and … [Read more...]
Jesus fulfilled law and prophets (Part 2 of 2)
THE EIGHTH DAY OF MARCH IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN A gracEmail subscriber asks why God would throw out the Old Testament and replace it with another; why he would begin with an attempt to redeem sinners through a system of law-keeping, then switch to a system grounded in grace ; and please explain the statement that "the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). * * * The Bible is above all a story--a story of the divine rescue, by which the Creator delivers, redeems and reconciles to himself a broken, … [Read more...]
