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The Jerusalen Council

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  Years ago a youth worker in an ethnic community attended a church. Being a creative young man, he decided he would show the youth group a simple black-and-white missionary film. That film projector had not been off an hour before a group of the leaders in the church called him in and asked him about what he had done. They asked, "Did you show the young people a film?" In all honesty he responded, "Well, yeah, I did."   "We don't like that," they replied. Without trying to be argumentative, the youth worker reasoned, "Well, I remember that at the last missionary conference, our church showed slides--" One of the church officers put his hand up signaling him to cease talking. Then, in these words, he emphatically explained the conflict: "If it's still, fine. If it moves, sin!" You can show slides, but when they start movin', you're gettin' into sin (C. Swindoll, The Grace Awakening). In Acts 15 we read that som...
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Theological Crisis in the Early church

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A Christian couple both believed that because they loved each other and they loved the Lord, they were going to live in peace and never have a disagreement or an argument. And they soon discovered, it didn’t work that way! The longer they were married, the more they disagreed and the more they argued. The wife was really disturbed; she didn’t believe in divorce. So, finally one day she said to her husband, “Honey, let’s just pray to the Lord that He will take one of us home and then I’ll go live with my mother!” The birth of the church at Antioch, followed by the first missionary journey, brought many Gentiles into the household of faith. After evangelizing, discipling and enfolding believers into reproducing churches during Paul’s first missionary journey, they returned to Antioch to celebrate what God had done over the past year. Acts 14:27 says “and when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of ...
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A God Who Divides the Sea

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  A college professor, an avowed Atheist, was teaching his class. He shocked several of his students when he flatly stated he was going to prove there was no God. Addressing the ceiling he shouted:  "God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you 15 minutes!" The lecture room fell silent. You could have heard a pin fall. Ten minutes went by. Again he taunted God, saying, "Here I am, God.  I'm still waiting." His countdown got down to the last couple of minutes when a Marine, just released from active duty and newly registered in the class, walked up to the professor. He hit him full force and sent him tumbling from his lofty platform. The professor was out cold! At first, the students were shocked and babbled on in confusion.  The young Marine took a seat in the front row and sat silently.  The class fell silent waiting.  Eventually, the professor came to, shaken. He looked at the yo...
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