Not long ago, someone asked me, “What are the most important things that you have learned about God and faith over your years of study?” I wish they hadn’t emphasized “years of study” so intensely! I grew up in the church – attending VBS, and children’s worship, and Sunday School. My family attended church faithfully.…
Implications on the Importance of Gaza
For the past two weeks, we cast our gaze upon the history of the stretch of land in the Mediterranean known as the Gaza Strip. The Strip has been controlled by Britain, Egypt, Palestine, Israel, and again by Palestine in the last 100 years. Today, we want to turn our attention to what the Bible…
Who Has Control of Gaza?
Last week we began to look closely at the history of the area of the Mediterranean known as the Gaza Strip. The 140-square-mile stretch of land along the coast between Egypt and Israel has endured decades of protest, military maneuvers, and violence as both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have asserted the right to have…
Understanding the Problem that is Gaza
As we have looked each week at the pages of our annals of history, we have noticed that it is often difficult to separate the secular pages of history from the sacred pages of history. While we may speak of the separation of church and state, often the two are woven together to form a…
What is a Denomination?
A brother from another country asked a simple, yet overwhelmingly difficult question, “What is a denomination?” Thinking about how to answer the question causes me to pause. As some of you know, I often teach an Introduction to Public Speaking class at a nearby university. When we talk about clearly explaining information, I ask the…
What Does ‘Run with Endurance’ Mean?
A brother asked what the Scriptures mean when it encourages us to “run the race with endurance.” Like so many other passages, this phrase makes a comparison between the Christian life and a common image from daily living. The comparison strives to make the teaching more relevant and understandable. Let’s did into this comparison because…
The Trumpet of Jesus
“The Trumpet of Jesus” – the name stirs several images, doesn’t it? My sister and I were texting yesterday about some changes I was making to my website. In the course of our conversation, she mentioned she met someone that we had both gone to high school with years and years (okay, let’s pretend “just…
Grace to You
We are starting a small group study in the book of Philippians. Philippians is a book of joy and grace. If I were writing a commentary on the book, I would probably title the work, “Faith Makes My Heart Smile.” You can study by talking about the context and the background of the writing of…
2021 KOINONIA BIBLE STUDY COURSES
Koinonia Bible Studies announces its lineup for the Bible studies coming during the 2021 season.Two of the studies are single lesson studies, Tradition and Love of Another Kind. Both of these lessons will be active on January 1, 2021. The other lessons are parts of a series and will be available three weeks before the…
Come Together: fellowship at a distance
The newest course in the Koinonia Bible Study Series is being released. Come Together: fellowship at a distance examines the biblical concept of fellowship through the example of the early church and the writing and ministry of the Apostle Paul. The parallels between the persecution of the early church and today’s coronavirus pandemic are startling.…