On December 25, Christians around the world will gather to celebrate Jesus’ birth. Joyful carols, special liturgies, brightly wrapped gifts, festive foods—these all characterize the feast today, at least in the northern hemisphere. But just how did the Christmas festival originate? How did December 25 come to be associated with Jesus’ birthday? The Bible offers…
In just the last 24 hours, since the United States Supreme Court handed down their historic decision allowing gay marriage to be legal in all 50 states, my inbox has been inundated with emails from panicked Christians from U.S. churches looking for guidance on this issue.
This podcast was recorded by Douglas Jacoby, evangelist and teacher with International Churches of Christ. Used with permission. For more information, please go to http://douglasjacoby.com. To download the podcast, right click on “download” and select “save link as” or “save target as” and you can download the podcast and listen to it later. Scriptures Ezekiel…
There are approximately two billion children (persons under 18) in the world. However, since Santa does not visit children of Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or Buddhist (except maybe in Japan) religions, this reduces the workload for Christmas night to 15% of the total, or 378 million (according to the Population Reference Bureau). At an average (census)…
Let’s talk about it. This is a great opportunity to connect with people, to get them to open up, to meet them authentically and to minister to them in a place where it hurts.
Here are a podcast and notes on Tattoos & Piercings (37 minutes). Biblical passages Leviticus 19:28 — but examine the context (the entire chapter) New Testament principles Relating to others — 1 Corinthians 9 Avoiding worldliness — 1 Corinthians 5-6 Not insisting on one”s rights; being willing to be sensitive to one”s brothers — 1 Corinthians 8:1-11:1…
It is known by millions as the Sermon on the Mount but in a very real way, it is the Sermon on the Kingdom. Jesus gave the message from the mount, but the topic of the sermon is the Kingdom life. He speaks of the Kingdom in the very first verse. He is talking about the Kingdom in the last paragraphs. And in between he talks of it at crucial points throughout the message.
2012 & the End of the World (30 minutes), click on the play button below. The final few minutes of this recording are an explanation of the Current Events & Issues series, which kicks off this podcast series. To download the file, please click HERE. If the link does not work when you left-click on…
About 80% of Americans believe they are “going to heaven.” But how many of those understand the kingdom of God and want to live the kingdom life here and now? The heart of Jesus’ message was the good news of the kingdom of God. But what is the kingdom? Is it here? Is it just about end time theology? Or is it about an amazing and transforming overlap of the age to come and the present age?
Is there a balance, a golden mean between observance and non-observance that will please everyone?
