Matthew BoffeyGod chose a small group of women to share the greatest news of all time. Why did Jesus appear to the women first instead of the disciples? On Saturday, they rested. But early Sunday morning, the women leaped into action. Motivated by love, they...
No church leader wants to admit it, but for many of us it’s true: we still don’t have a sustainable habit for personal Bible study and prayer. Here are five ways forward—true for anyone, church leader or not. 1. Know your why In Man’s Search for...
I knew the NICOT and NICNT commentary series appeared often on bestcommentaries.com, but I was curious to see just how they stacked up, so I did some digging. A few titles especially stood out, and I highlight them below. Beneath that, I include the...
If a young preacher stepped into your office asking for your best books on preaching, what would you suggest? Here are a few ideas.
Is all the extravagance surrounding Easter a distraction, or are Christians right to give it the special attention they do? Let’s avoid the culture wars of the Easter Bunny, Cadbury eggs, and egg hunts, and simply speak to what happens in most...
Though we celebrate the resurrection power of Jesus every week, Easter Sunday is special. Not only do we set it aside to focus primarily on the resurrection, but it’s also a unique evangelistic opportunity. It’s one of the few mornings when the...
With all the preparation you’re putting into your Christmas services, don’t forget one of the most important elements: presentation slides. What should you keep in mind as you build your service slides for Christmas and Christmas Eve? Here are five...
I’ve been in church all my life, and I’ve been in volunteer leadership positions long enough to know that planning a service simply takes time and energy.
The road to learning biblical Greek and Hebrew is a journey of moving from alphabets and words to fluid reading and interpretation—and sometimes, it can feel like climbing a mountain just to reach another false summit. This post is for anyone who’s...
Is there a best method for how to use Bible commentaries? As songwriter Sara Groves says, “There’s no way to know it without discovery.” Groves isn’t talking about Bible commentaries (or how to use them) when she sings that line, but...
Look into the future, and you see a blank preaching calendar you need to fill. People are coming through the doors—some for the first time, some for the thousandth—and you have to deliver sermons that meet them where they are, week after week after...
The story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 is difficult. It strikes many readers as harsh, a return to Old Testament retribution. Consider why Luke, under the Spirit's inspiration, may have included the story in Acts.
We’ve written about how to introduce new worship songs to your church. But that assumes you’ve found new songs to lead, which raises another question: What new worship songs should you be singing? With innumerable choices, how do worship...
Good Friday commemorates the day Jesus taught us how to die. A caterpillar folds into a cocoon, dies, bursts forth as a butterfly. A seed falls to the ground, gets eaten by the soil, shoots up. A tree sheds its leaves, sprouts buds, dazzles...
Breeze through the Paideia commentary series description and you might miss its distinguishing mark: The Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament approaches each text in its final, canonical form, proceeding by sense units (pericopes) rather than...
A couple years ago, we asked some of our team members who attended seminary to share some of their experiences—what is the one piece of advice each one would want to leave for current seminarians. I hope the reflections are helpful to you. Many of...
This morning the great apologist Norman Geisler passed away. It was announced on his ministry page, but I saw the news from my colleague Scott Lindsey, who knew Dr. Geisler personally. Scott has permitted me to share his reflection here, which...
Until 1054, there was simply the Church. No Eastern Orthodox Church, no Roman Catholic Church, no Reformation, and no denominations. There were just two large branches of the same tree: the church in the West and the church in the East. But in 1054...
There are at least two senses in Scripture in which Jesus is the word of God. Though related, one has to do with the idea of revelation, and the other with the Greek word logos. Jesus as God’s revelation One way to understand Jesus as God’s word is...
The most important work of evangelical theology in modern times. — Kenneth Briggs, New York Times Establishes [Carl] Henry as the leading theologian of the nation’s evangelical flank. — Richard Ostling, Time Magazine A must for every Christian...
By Jeffrey Arthurs It was said of Winston Churchill that “he mobilized the English language, and sent it into battle.” I exhort you, send your best words into battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Send language forth like soldiers...
A few weeks ago Faithlife hosted BibleTech, a two-day conference on the intersection of technology and Scripture in the Christian life. As a cohost, I had the privilege of sitting in on at least half the talks. Topics ranged from the future of AI in...
If you want your church to be more discoverable online, one of the best things you can do is nail your church website domain name. Here are nine quick tips to follow on your way to a memorable, discoverable domain name for your church website. 1...
D.A. Carson describes Leon Morris’ writing style in The Gospel according to John as “superb.” Interested to see for myself, I opened the commentary to see how Morris treats my favorite passage in all the Gospels. Indeed, his introduction to the High...
Today news is breaking of Warren Wiersbe’s passing. He went home to be with the Lord yesterday, two weeks shy of his ninetieth birthday. Dr. Warren Wiersbe (May 16, 1929–May 2, 2019) was a beloved Bible teacher and author of over 150 books. Often...
Today marks the beginning of the Days of Remembrance, the United States’ annual commemoration of the Holocaust. Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime systematically persecuted and murdered an estimated six million Jews, as well as millions of...
Last week we posted about whether Jesus went to hell after his death, and in what sense. One of the chief passages on this topic is 1 Peter 3:18–20, specifically verse 19: “in which he [the resurrected Christ] went and proclaimed to the spirits in...
There are certain passages that make you scratch your head, even if you’ve read them before. Luke 11:24–26 is one of them. Here’s how Joel Green, author of the Luke volume in the New International Commentary of the New Testament (NICNT), treats...
Mark Ward is the author of Authorized and recently wrote and appeared in a documentary of the same name. In this interview, we learn about the origins of the film, what went into writing the screenplay, and what audience reactions have been to his...
You will preach narrative far better if you know this literary archetype. The Bible is full of stories, and most of them revolve around a hero. From Abraham to Moses to Deborah to the True and Better Hero, much of Scripture is a hero’s journey...