Topic > Christian Ministry & the Church
Wise Words
Now in my sixties, I reflect back on wise spiritual leaders who had a positive impact on my life. In Bible school, God used my Old Testament professor to make the Word come alive. My Greek teacher relentlessly employed high standards to goad my study of the New Testament.
Change: Following God Through Life’s Crossroads
No matter how you view change, it’s an inevitable part of life—you can’t experience anything new without it. In Change: Following God through Life’s Crossroads, Bill Crowder examines the life of the apostle Paul and offers insights to help you overcome fears, doubts, and resistance to change. Discover how you can draw closer to God and experience His peace, follow His lead and move into a new season of purpose, and impact the world around you for His glory.
Paul’s Prison Epistles
This course offers an analysis of four of the epistles that Paul wrote from prison (Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon, and Philippians). As Christians we face many challenges to our faith. False teachings and worldviews assault our loyalty to Christ. Suffering tempts us to think that God is not in control, or that He does have our best interests at heart. And our relationships with other believers are often strained to the point that we doubt the value of the church. But Paul responded to these types of difficulties in his letters from prison. This course is a study of these epistles, based on…
The Apostles’ Creed
There are many denominations, divisions and theological disputes in the modern church. But despite these types of disunity, there is a common core of belief that all faithful Christians have affirmed throughout history. And for almost two millennia, this core of belief has been summarized in the Apostles’ Creed. This course explains the history and use of the Apostles’ Creed, as well as the details and significance of each of its articles of faith. It is based on the videos produced by Third Millennium Ministries.
When Help Is Needed: A Biblical View Of Counseling
When times of overwhelming pressure and stress lead you to seek help, where do you go and how can you know if the guidance you’re getting is trustworthy? Counselor Tim Jackson takes you through a personal assessment with a series of questions and insight from Scripture that will help you understand when, how, and where to turn for biblical counseling.
Discover how the Lord’s Prayer can be used in community
We often think of prayer as an individual exercise. And while certain petitions are intensely personal, some prayers were intended to be communicated as a group!
The Heart of Paul’s Theology
We often struggle with individualism, legalism, and confusion regarding Christ’s second coming. This course will help you deal with these issues as you explore the central message of Paul, and review the teachings of Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and 1 and 2 Corinthians. You will gain a better understanding of the kingdom of God, and rejoice in Jesus and the amazing plans He has for His people and His world. The course is based on the DVD lessons of Dr. Reggie M. Kidd produced by Third Millennium Ministries.
You’re Necessary
The story has been told about a conductor who was rehearsing his orchestra. The organ was giving a beautiful melody, the drums were thundering, the trumpets were blaring, and the violins were singing beautifully. But the conductor noticed something missing—the piccolo. The piccolo player had gotten distracted and hoped his instrument wouldn’t be missed. The conductor reminded him: “Each one of us is necessary.”
Discover what our responsibility is for the “daily bread” we have
While many people in the world struggle to supply their basic needs, others are abundantly blessed. Let's explore why some are blessed with more.
Discover the importance of community in the Lord’s Prayer
When we choose to follow God we become part of the community of believers. As members of the larger body of Christ, we discover a whole new dimension to Jesus’ prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Spiritual Sight
A prisoner who survived 14 years in a Cuban jail told how he kept his spirits up and his hope alive: “I had no window in my cell, and so I mentally constructed one on the door. I ‘saw’ in my mind a beautiful scene from the mountains, with water tumbling down a ravine over rocks. It became so real to me that I would visualize it without effort every time I looked at the cell door.”
Ironically, some of the most hopeful books of the Bible—Philippians, Colossians, and Ephesians—come out of Paul’s house arrest in Rome. The letter to the Ephesians gives a hint as to what the apostle Paul saw when he thought about life beyond his place of confinement.
The Circle Of The Wise
I used to serve on the elder board of a church in California. One elder, Bob Smith, who was older than most of us, frequently called us back to the Word of God for guidance.
Just Kids
After high school, Darrell Blizzard left the orphanage where he grew up to join the US Army Air Corps. World War II was in full swing, and soon he faced responsibilities usually given to older and more experienced men. He told a reporter years later that a four-mule plow team was the biggest thing he’d driven before he became the pilot of a four-engine B-17. Now in his late eighties, he said, “We were all just kids flying those things.”
God’s generosity in providing us with work for His kingdom
And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’ So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they murmured against the landlord, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 19:30 – 20:16).
IDEA: God gives us the gift of work in His vineyard.
PURPOSE: For listeners to appreciate that God is generous in giving us His work to do.
A Working Church
My wife, Shirley, and I enjoyed a cruise along the fjords of Norway in celebration of our 50th wedding anniversary. As we journeyed northward, we stopped in numerous towns and villages, often visiting churches. Among them was a 12th-century church that our guide described proudly as “still a working church.” I asked, “What do you mean?” She referred to the days of the state church, when the state-appointed pastors simply collected their paychecks but no one attended the services.
