Throughout the Bible We See Examples We Can Apply in Our World Today As we move toward the end of the book of Numbers, we see God allocating Canaan—the Promised Land—to the twelve tribes of Israel. First, God gives Moses the western, northern, eastern, and southern borders of the nation. Then he indicates which tribes […]
Examine What the Early Church Did and Apply It In part one of this post we looked at the first five practices of the early church as detailed in the Bible. They relied on Holy Spirit power, they worshiped God, they spent time in prayer, they fasted, and they lived in community. Here are the […]
Be Open to How God Wants to Lead Us A minister once told me there are three ways to lead people. Some lead from above, others lead from the front, and still more lead from within. God can lead us in the same way. Consider these three leadership styles. Lead From Above Leaders who lead […]
Many Churches Try to Operate Like a Business Even Though That Model Doesn’t Apply In our culture we’re familiar with the structure of businesses. We either work for a business or we run one. It’s a natural extension to apply these business practices to the church. But we shouldn’t, because a church isn’t a business. […]
People in Positions of Authority are Liable if They Don’t Warn Their Charges of Potential Danger The thirty-third chapter of Ezekiel opens with some vague references to upcoming danger, a watchman, and heeding the warnings of the lookout. Who is this watchman, we wonder? Could it be an anticipation of Jesus? Or perhaps John the […]
The Bible Teaches Us Leadership Principles The book of Proverbs overflows with wise advice and thought-provoking sayings. Often these one-liners produce the material for great soundbites or social media memes. Yet some parts require a bit more work before we can find value in their words. Such is the case with Proverbs 14:28. It says, […]
When Leaders Have Absolute Power They Can Commit Terrible Atrocities In the early days of the nation of Israel, a time under its first king, we witness a bad transition of leadership. King Saul abuses his power and shows his lack of trust in God. David Anointed King God wants him gone, replacing him with […]
Learn More about Nehemiah Under the wise leadership of Nehemiah, the walls of the city of Jerusalem were rebuild in only 52 days. That’s less than two months. That seems quick and it sounds like it would have been easy, but it wasn’t. Nehemiah faced severe opposition, in multiple ways, that threatened progress and could […]
Some People Blindly Accept Church Rhetoric, but They Risk Going Down a Dangerous Path We’ve all heard stories of people taken in and indoctrinated by cults. Though some stories end happily after they extricate themselves from the control the cult, too many situations end badly. There are many common characteristics to help us identify cults […]
Our Spiritual Leaders May Fail Us and Let Us Down but Jesus Never Will Relevant magazine cited a Gallup poll that revealed America’s trust in the clergy has hit a record low. And it’s fallen steadily since 2002. In the early 80s two thirds of people respected spiritual leaders. Now only a bit more than […]