In a recent posting on our son-in-law’s blog, he wrote of asking our oldest grandson what different parts of the church building were. Of course, as a proud grandpa, I thought that all of the responses were very insightful. Like all grandparents, I was sure that our grandson would know more about the church building where his family worships regularly than any other six-year-old in the universe. (Of course that would also be true with regard to our three-year-old, our two-year-old and both of our less that one-year-olds!) In particular, I found the following response to be very interesting: Baptistery – “Where somebody goes into God’s family (they have to believe and they have to hold their breath).” I am not sure that I have ever read where one of the biblical requirements of baptism is the ability to hold one’s breath, but it surely would be a very practical thing to do. That would be true, of course, only if a person submitted to the type of baptism described in God’s Word. While many in the religious climate of our day accept a variety of “modes” of baptism, those who desire to follow the will of God will recognize and submit to only one. By definition, description and depiction, baptism is immersion. The word “baptism” is an anglicized word. Translators took the Greek word baptizo and/or one of the forms of that word and “invented” an English word where one had never existed before. According to Vine’s Expository of New Testament Words (89), this

Preachers get asked a lot of questions. Sometimes these questions are doctrinal; sometimes they are practical; sometimes they fall into the category of “just curious.” There is one question that always puzzles this preacher. I never really know how to answer it except just to give whatever information I have. A good brother or sister will know that somebody is in the hospital, is a “shut-in” or is suffering in some other way. The well-meaning brother or sister will walk up to a preacher and ask a question like, “Have you heard anything from ___________.” It may be worded a little differently. It may be asked in one of these ways: “How is ____________ doing?” “I haven’t seen __________ at church in a while. Do you know where they have been?” “Something seems to be bothering ________________. Do you have any idea what’s wrong?” While I appreciate the interest demonstrated in these and other similar questions, and while I don’t mind telling what I know (as long as it is not privileged information), I really believe that there is a better and more biblical approach to this. Those who know me know that I love the “body concept” of the church about which we read in 1 Corinthians 12. In this passage, we find that “…there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member

According to a friend of mine, a conversation he had at work not long ago went something like this (starting with his buddy’s words): “I took my daughter to the mall the other night, and she showed me a pair of shorts she wanted me to buy. They cost $107. Man, there was more cotton in the top of an aspirin bottle than what it took to make those shorts.” “Did you buy them?” “No, I’m not going to buy something like that. Her mother buys her all that stuff.” If I had the opportunity to talk to the three members of that family, here is some advice I would give to each one. I could say a lot more than I will write here to each one, but the short statements here represent a lot more that could be said – especially to the Dad. To the daughter I would say, “Do you have any idea what kind of person you are attracting by the type of clothing you are choosing to wear? Do you really want somebody to be interested in only what you have to offer physically? Are fashion and popularity more important to you than your reputation, your future and your soul?” To the wife/mother I would say, “I do not know what your teen years were like, but do not try to relive it or remake it through your daughter. Please do not encourage her to grow up too fast. You are setting her and yourself up for a lot of heartache. Oh,

Which mountain was the tallest? It was hard to tell. They all looked like they were about the same height. I was sure I had picked out the tallest mountain the day before, but now it looked like it was about the same height (or maybe even shorter) than another one close by. The only difference between this day and the day before was that it had been clear the day before, but it was cloudy on this particular day. I knew that the clouds made things appear a little darker and somewhat changed how the colors looked, but could clouds make the height of something appear to be different than it really was? I found out that the answer to that question was a resounding, “Yes,” when the clouds finally moved on and uncovered the top of the tallest mountain! I had no idea that the cloud had actually obscured my vision to that extent. I have been thinking about that experience quite a lot lately. It may be that part of our lack of understanding about a lot of things may be due to the fact that we are not seeing the entire picture. I know that the more I read and try to understand God’s Word, the more it seems as though “clouds move on” in my understanding of His will for my life, His great plan of salvation, the marvelous church He has always had in His plans (cf. Ephesians 3:10) and a host of other things. I would

There have been a lot of changes in my life. Few, however, rival the change that took place on December 21, 2003. After sitting in on elders’ meetings and being with elders for well over twenty years, I became one. “They” and “them” quickly became “we” and “us.” As a preacher, I had been as close to being an elder as one could possibly be for all of those years without actually being one. As elderships in three different congregations had asked me to meet with them almost every time they met, I had seen godly men pray, plan, deliberate, discuss, question, rejoice, express sorrow and do a host of other things “up close and personal.” As the work of the church in general and the work of elders in particular were discussed, I had listened to members of those congregations as they expressed support for or concerns about what “they” did. I had heard what the members liked and what they did not like about “them.” In fact, I had my own opinions about these matters. While I did my best to keep these opinions to myself, I still had them. I could see (or at least I thought I could see) all kinds of ways that the work of the Lord could be done better if “they” would handle their responsibilities differently. Now that “they” is “us,” I hope you will indulge me as I share some things I have learned firsthand. Hopefully, these thoughts will provide some insight into

It was sixty-seven years ago. It was on a Sunday. It was December 7, 1941. It was, our president would say the next day, “a date which will live in infamy.” On the sixtieth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, I read an article by an Associated Press writer by the name of Paul Grassley. The first sentence of his article caught my attention. Seven years later, I am still disturbed by it. See what you think about it: “The attack on Pearl Harbor 60 years ago caught Americans in idle Sunday pursuits and changed many of them forever.” My concern with his opening sentence really involves the placement of just one word. If he had just put the word “many” somewhere else in that opening sentence (or used it twice), the sentence might leave a different impression than it does. It is definitely true that many Americans’ lives were changed forever on that Sunday years ago. It is definitely not true that all Americans were involved in “idle Sunday pursuits.” To be sure, some were. No doubt, many were relaxing, enjoying some recreation, getting caught up with some odd jobs, visiting relatives, etc. They were, indeed, involved in “idle Sunday pursuits.” However, all across this great nation of ours, there were people who were definitely not involved in any pursuit that could be described as idle. Their pursuit involved a closer relationship with and knowledge about God. On that Sunday morning, sixty-seven years ago, the first ship was struck at 7:56 a.m. (Hawaii

Does the term Ornithorhynchus anatinus mean anything to you? That is the scientific name for a strange looking animal known to most of us as the platypus (often called the duck-billed platypus). The platypus looks like an animal that was put together by some sort of sadistic committee. It has fur, four legs and other features of a mammal (and is classified as such), but it has a bill that looks like a duck’s bill and it lays eggs like a duck and other birds. In their rush to combat secular humanism, militant Islamists, political correctness, and other principles and ideas, many religious leaders, politicians, and others have put together an intellectual platypus. In solemn tones, they tell us that our nation was founded upon Judeo-Christian principles and that these principles are worth preserving. In more excited tones, they will tell us that our Judeo-Christian heritage is at stake and is worth fighting for. It seems ironic to me that, in an attempt to combat such things as political correctness, these people are, themselves, practitioners of a certain kind of political correctness. The thinking seems to be that, since Jews and Christians all claim to worship the same God, they (we) have been lumped together in the public arena of ideas and discussion. However, before we adopt the language of the politicians, theologians and others, it would seem logical to ask a very basic question, “What, exactly, is a Judeo-Christian?” There are some good corollary questions to this one. Here are a few that come to

It started early. Our Lord had only been on the earth for twelve years when Joseph and Mary mistakenly left Him behind in Jerusalem as they made their way back to their home in Nazareth. When they returned to Jerusalem “…they found Him sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46 ESV emphasis added). It continued throughout a great portion of His earthly ministry. Repeatedly, our Lord taught by listening and asking. Space here does not permit even a mention of each of these instances, much less a discussion of them. Only two such examples will be briefly considered. On one occasion, Jesus and His work were being severely criticized. The scene is recorded in Matthew 12:22-32, Mark 3:22-30 and Luke 11:14-23. The religious leaders of His day were making the accusation that He was casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. Although these Scriptures do not say that He heard them, He did know their thoughts. (Since we are not deity, we cannot know each other’s thoughts unless those thoughts are expressed and heard.) As you read about how Jesus handled that accusation, you will find that He asked them a lot of questions. Based on the obvious answers to those questions, He was able to allow them to see that their position was untenable and that they had a much more serious problem than being wrong in their thinking. It is more than passing interest and importance that the “great confession” made by

He is not a member of the Lord’s church. He has expressed on more than one occasion his admiration for his wife who is a faithful and dedicated Christian lady. He admires her for her example and helps her find a congregation of God’s people with whom she can worship when they are out of town. He used to go with her. He used to listen to the Bible being taught in a class environment. He used to hear Gospel lessons being preached. He used to have repeated opportunities to hear a preacher extend the invitation. He used to have to think about his spiritual condition when the “invitation song” was being sung. None of those things is true any longer. He no longer joins his wife as she faithfully makes her way to be with her brothers and sisters in the Lord and offer worship to Him. When I talked with him, he did not indicate that he really had anything against the church. In fact, he was very complimentary of many of the Christians he knew. He called some by name and expressed to me how much he thought of them. As we talked about his spiritual condition and needs, I became aware of the fact that, like so many others, there is not just one reason why he no longer makes the effort to be with his wife when she worships. There hardly ever is just one reason in situations like this. However, in most situations, there