We Must Exercise Care with the Labels We Use for Our Spiritual Leaders Rabbi is a title I expected to find scattered throughout the Old Testament. It seems like a very Old Testament word. It’s not. It’s a New Testament word. Rabbi only appears in the Gospels and then just three of them: Matthew, Mark, […]
Good Preaching is a Start, but it’s Not the End With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #46. Although the minister won me over with his teaching, his good preaching, the first half of the service remains my […]
Sounding the Shofar at Church With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #21. Of all the 52 churches we visited, this one deviated the most from current church practices. It was a unique church service and a memorable […]
If you view church in a tradition manner, then we didn’t go this Sunday. However, if church is two or more people gathering in God’s presence, then we had a most significant time. The pastors begin by sounding the shofar (a trumpet made from an animal horn, as mentioned in the Old Testament) and we […]
Shepherds Have a Responsibility to Their Sheep and Sheep Have a Responsibility to Their Shepherd We know Jesus is the Good Shepherd. The Bible also addresses bad shepherds. The book of Jeremiah talks about this, but it’s easy to miss it if we read too fast. The Bad Shepherd Quoting God, Jeremiah writes, “My people […]
When a man asks Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life,” he is showing proper respect for Jesus by calling him good. Jesus, however, is quick to assert that only God is truly good. If ever anyone deserved the label of “good,” it was Jesus. But instead he offers this accolade […]