I am a fervent believer in listening to podcasts. These free online video and audio series allow me to learn, grow and even be entertained by listening while driving. My favorite podcasts include those by good Bible teachers, on technology, and other topics I have a particular interest in. One I always listen to without fail comes out every Wednesday, entitled, “5Minutes in Church History.” It can be found through the podcast apps on iPhone, iPad, Google Play store, etc. It can also be accessed through Dr. Nichols’ website, www.5minutesinchurchhistory.com.Continue Reading
October 2019
Why I Go to Church
Attendance at churches in America is in a downward spiral. Religious critics increasingly malign and belittle people of faith in Christ who do attend. More and more professed Christians have essentially joined them by abandoning their participation in “church.” Why? Did God make a mistake in creating the church? Has the gathering together of believers become optional as public attendance seems to indicate? While I may not be able to answer these and other questions to everyone’s satisfaction, I would like to share with you today why I have neither abandoned nor given up on the church. Here is why I go to church. Click here to listen.
How God Views the Church
Here are four messages I delivered in 2010 exalting the Bible’s view of the Church. It was originally planned as a 7-lesson series, but was shortened to four. Following this series I will post two additional sermons I delivered in 2012 and 2013 as follow-ups to this series.
1. The Church in God’s Eternal Plan – “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ephesians 3:10-11) This morning we begin a seven lesson series we call, “7 Things to Know about the Church!” Our first message focuses on the role of the church in God’s eternal purpose. Some religious groups teach that the church is simply a “stop gap measure” by God until He can bring in the Kingdom at Christ’s second coming. Many groups and individuals seem to believe the church should be whatever they want it to be – in organization, worship, practice, finances, and purpose. Paul’s statement in Ephesians 3 (above) says that “through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known.” The church reflects God’s planning, wisdom and purpose! It is not an afterthought or temporary measure.Continue Reading
Pick of the Week: “Bible Land Passages” Videos
World Video Bible School is a ministry in Maxwell, Texas serving the churches of Christ since 1986. They provide a large number of online video courses, DVDs, books, charts, audio files and other teaching materials. Many videos and courses are available free of charge through their website, with most of their physical media like books and DVDs, while not free, very reasonably priced. Thousands of individuals and congregations have been using their excellent materials for evangelism, Bible classes and small group studies for years.Continue Reading
Pick of the Week: The Visual Bible’s “Gospel of John” Movie (2003)
Ever since the movie industry began, stories from the Bible have provided the scripts for movies, even before sound and color were a part of film-making. But of all the movies about Jesus I have watched and/or own, by far my favorite is The Gospel of John(2003) created by the Visual Bible Project. Earlier films produced included Matthew (1993) and Acts(1994), but used different actors than The Gospel of John.
The Gospel of John reproduces verbatim essentially the entire Gospel of John from the American Bible Society’s Today’s English Version (alternately called the Good News Bible). While perhaps not considered as literally accurate as some other translations, its easy-to-understand style helps the movie dialogue seem natural instead of “preachy.” Christopher Plummer is the narrator for the non-conversation parts of John, while Henry Ian Cusick plays the part of Jesus, and both do masterful jobs.Continue Reading
Resources: On the Miracles of Jesus
This last quarter of 2019, I am teaching a Wednesday night series of classes on Jesus and His Miracles. The series is entitled The Wonder Worker, with the subtitle of “The Miracles of Jesus… and What They Really Tell Us About Him.”
Having been a preacher and teacher for almost 50 years now, I unconsciously draw on a large amount of previous reading, study, lessons taught and messages heard which have impacted my thinking. But I also have collected some other resources, old and new, to use as I prepare these classes. Here are some I would recommend, though, as with all works of mere men, there are surely things in them with which I might disagree. Note that EBS may earn a small commission off any merchandise purchased through links on this page.Continue Reading
Free Bible Images from www.freebibleimages.org
I was recently putting together a Powerpoint presentation and wanted to illustrate John 20:24-29. This is the passage about Thomas declaring he would never believe Jesus was alive from the dead unless he touched Jesus himself… and then Jesus appeared to him! But how could I appropriately illustrate this event?
I could “google” for images I was looking for, but the chances are great that the images found are owned by others and copyrighted. So use of them without their permission, – even if credit is given – is a violation of copyright and unethical!Continue Reading
Pick of the Week: The “Bible Across America” NIV Bible
Have you heard of the NIV Bible Across America Project that took place in 2008-2009? Sadly, probably not. Let me fill in some background from my own experience.
The first edition New International Version of the New Testament became my English translation of choice in about 1973 soon after it was first published. The print copy I still preach and teach from is the 1984 printing of the NIV whole Bible, which I purchased when it was first released and I had rebound when the covers were falling off somewhere around 2005.
In 2008 Zondervan wanted to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the NIV Bible’s release. They announced a nationwide tour covering 40+ states and at least 140 cities in a specially equipped motorhome. Their goal was to have some 31,100 volunteers each handwrite one single verse of the Bible (NIV translation, of course). Those verses taken together made up a complete copy of the Bible written by hand by 31,100 people!Continue Reading
“Catching Fish!” – Engaging Your Students in Deeper Bible Study
The following material was presented at the 2019 Sunset Vision Workshop as part of the Sunset Satellite School Administrator training track.
“Catching Fish”
Introduction:
- Sunset Satellite School classes provide a high-quality, well taught experience in studying the Bible. However, we really should desire to take our students to the next step – helping them become not just more knowledgable, but capable of growing and going deeper into God’s Word on their own. This will allow them to be of greater service to the church as teachers, leaders and shepherds.
- “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” We might even modify this to say, “Teach him to fish and he will be able to feed both himself and others for a lifetime.”