B.D. Cummins And He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor…” (Isaiah 59:16) God wondered! Can you even fathom it? The God Who created the universe, the heavens, sun, moon and stars; and created the earth, the animal kingdom, plant life, and mankind, looked down on His creation and “wondered!” God Who is Sovereign and Who knows all things, wondered! The Sovereign God Who is never surprised because He knows all things, and He knows “the end from the beginning,” yet...

Vance Havner Whatever may have happened to it since, the Christian way did not begin as a broad boulevard. Our Lord said the gate to eternal life was strait and the way narrow. He said that few find it and from that to the faithful few in Sardis (Revelation 3:4), the New Testament does not give us the impression of a popular, all inclusive movement.  The early Christians were a persecuted minority group in a pagan world. It was said of certain worthies, “They were narrow. In other words, they...

Frances Stetler A love for Christian education is nearly in the Stetler DNA. My parents sacrificed much to teach in Christian schools, and, when going to a Christian school was still rare, my mother left the house every school day at 7 AM (with three small boys, a toddler, and a baby) to ride the city bus, taking my brothers to the only Christian school in the city. She had to ride the bus into downtown Cincinnati, transfer buses, and travel to the western side of the city; then she retraced...

Curtis Going The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther once said, “I would advise no one to send his child where the Holy Scriptures are not supreme. Every institution that does not unceasingly pursue the study of God’s Word becomes corrupt…” Many years later, the famed theologian Francis Schaeffer further fleshed out Christian thought on the education of young people when he said that “Isolating the student from large sections of human knowledge is not the basis of a Christian education. Rather...

by David Spivey I might have been 8 but I haven’t forgotten it. My impressionable mind was indelibly stamped by what I saw, heard and felt that night in a little holiness church in Portland, Oregon. Our pastor, relatively young and wanting to do something to build the Kingdom, proposed something counter-intuitive to church growth strategies. In short, he scheduled a Confession Service. I know—an unusual method for winning friends and influencing people. But that’s what he did. Based on the...

by Joel Byer I am not a very good artist. This is not a statement of humility, this is a simple fact! However, I do have an 11 year old daughter who loves to draw, and over the years I have come to appreciate this talent in others even though I have little or no ability myself. While my stick figures are crooked, as the saying goes, I can marvel at the expertise of others who can take a blank piece of paper or canvas and from that develop a work of art. When I go to Scripture, I likewise can...

By Curtis Going We live in a “selfie world”…an age when social media provides a quick and easy platform to broadcast how successful, prosperous, generous or good looking we are.  In our dog-eat-dog world, people are not afraid to promote themselves, brag on their accomplishments, and do whatever is necessary to outshine the competition and stand out from the crowd.  Humility is decidedly unpopular and often misunderstood, and yet the truth remains that “God resisteth the proud, and giveth...

By Rick Jones As the disciples of Jesus gathered in the upper room to pray for “the promise of the Father,” the culture outside their doors was profoundly decadent and corrupt. Understanding the times into which the Church was born, as well as the powerful impact of the Church upon the ancient world is both instructive and a source of encouragement for those of us who are the Church of the twenty-first century. IN JERUSALEM Though small by comparison to the other ancient capitals, the Jews in...