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Showing posts from January, 2022

A modern disciple's doubts

  The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them.   17  When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted. (Matthew 28:16-17) I try to be faithful to the Scriptures when I write or preach. I aim to draw out the lessons I can and apply them to today’s daily walk of faith without saying more than the biblical witness. I want to get everything I can from the diligent study of the Bible and share that with others without putting words in God’s mouth. I can’t help but wonder, though; I don’t recall that I’ve heard anyone focus—I mean really focus—on that doubt. That’s what I hope to do in this essay, and I hope what follows does not stretch the biblical sense far beyond what Matthew ever intended. “But some doubted.” The disciples were moved to worship in the presence of the risen Christ. Yet, even in this profound moment, some still wrestled with doubt.  We hear it said that “seeing is believing.” Yet even as the discip...

The One Overarching Reason Churches Close their Doors

 I like to think of myself as a student of the root causes of the death of local churches and what it takes to turn around a congregation that’s on a death spiral before it winds up closing its doors. Dozens of books and articles seek to explain the ins and outs of church death and church revitalization. And while church deaths all have their own unique stories and individual circumstances leading up to the closure, there’s only one overarching reason a church closes its doors. That is because our Lord shut it down! What!? That’s right. The New Testament speaks only once of a church closing. Only once! That’s in Revelation, Chapter 2:1-7 (NASB, 2020), where we read: 1   “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: “ 2   I know your deeds and your labor and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people, and you have put those who call themselve...