Matthew BoffeyNo 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...
God 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...
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.
I remember the days of midweek church. We’d gather Wednesday nights for a scaled-down version of Sunday morning: a little singing, some prayer, and meatier teaching. The kids would be dismissed for age-appropriate classes, while the adults stayed in...
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...
Some versions of the Apostles’ Creed say Jesus descended into hell. Did he? For centuries, Christians have proclaimed, “. . . he [Jesus] descended into hell . . .” Other versions of the creed say “the grave.” Why do we say those words at all, and...
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...
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 the...
If you’re anything like me, you might need help cataloging your sermons. Why you should consider cataloging your sermons I recently guest-taught a four-part series. Given a short turnaround time and other commitments, I needed to draw from...
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...
If you’ve never owned Logos before, and you are a Bible study leader, now’s the time to try it out. Ideal for Bible study and small group leaders, these libraries prepare you to answer the tough questions before they’re even asked. Here...
Sermon transcription gives you new and improved ways to: Make your sermons accessible to anyone with impaired hearing Help others engage further with your sermon throughout the week Keep a searchable record of what you’ve preached And in Faithlife...
Don’t be a Moses. “Don’t be a Moses?” you think. “But Moses was an incredible leader!” Yeah, an incredible leader who almost burned out. Until Jethro stepped in. In Exodus 18, Jethro came to Moses to see about everything that had been...
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...
Raise your hand if you’ve been here before: You’re about to transition to a new verse or point in your sermon, when all of a sudden you can’t remember what’s next. Or you allude to the next slide in the presentation, only to...
Did you know sermon archives function much like commentaries in Logos? This post will show you how to get the most use out of sermon collections in Logos. Broadly speaking, there are three main ways to use sermons beyond manually finding them in...
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...