Logos StaffIn this article, you'll learn how to write a topical sermon, including picking the topic, using the right tools, polishing your message, and more.
The new year always brings with it the anticipation of hope—whatever defined last year can change in this one. New Year’s resolutions usually involve aspirations of self-improvement, like exercising, losing weight, or saving money. But what if...
Our team scoured all books from acclaimed Christian publishers released in 2021 and picked our favorites—everything from commentaries to biblical languages to practical ministry and more. Best new Lexham titles Wonderfully Made: A Protestant...
Spiritual gifts can either seem like something for the early Church in ages long past . . . or like something so hard to pin down, they’re more to be accepted than understood. But after exploring which spiritual gifts are listed in the Bible (an...
Like lighting Advent candles, Advent readings (for church services or personal devotions) provoke a pause from the everyday. There’s nothing quite like navigating the special weeks of Advent: preparation, anticipation, joy, and incarnation. ...
Every year, Sunday school teachers spend time teaching the virgin birth. But pastors and small group leaders teach it too—and as a small group leader or pastor, you can dive deeper into Mary’s story and its applications. For one, faithfulness to God...
The annunciation is Gabriel’s prophetic announcement to Mary that she would give birth to the Son of God. However, in the past, some critics believed the idea of the Messiah as Son of God was a Graeco-Roman concept that Christians picked up after...
Bible Study MagazineIn this excerpt adapted from the November/December issue of Bible Study Magazine, Stephen G. Dempster, author of Dominion and Dynasty: A Biblical Theology of the Hebrew Bible, provides a big-picture overview of the story of the Old Testament.
Peter KrolSadly, the daily news plods forward with report after report of some Christian leader’s downfall. Some such cases arise from sexual impropriety. Others center on the abuse of power. Yet others involve financial mismanagement, unresolved conflict, or...
Matthew BoffeyWith 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...
Guest AuthorJesus’ own townspeople in Nazareth mistook who he was, as did Herod, Mary Magdalene, and even Peter. But did John the Baptist misunderstand Jesus? In this excerpt adapted from the September/October 2021 issue of Bible Study Magazine, Joseph R...
Robby LockettThe dates will always be easy to remember. January 6—the day the electoral votes were counted and the Capitol was stormed—was the day we learned the cancer had spread again, this time into places you can’t live without. January 20—Inauguration...
The apostle Paul is arguably one of Christian history’s most formative thinkers and writers. Recently, Faithlife’s Daniel Motley spent some time chatting with Dr. Douglas Moo, one of the world’s leading Pauline scholars, about his landmark study: A...
Michael S. HeiserDr. Michael S. Heiser is the author of The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible and has taught many Mobile Ed courses, including Problems in Biblical Interpretation: Difficult Passages I. In the excerpt from his book I...
Typically when seminary students begin their theological education journey, they anticipate writing lots of papers, listening to long lectures, and digging into new, deep topics they may not have explored before. They don’t often consider their time...
Patrick SchreinerWhen I first started teaching, I began each class speaking not only about what we were to read in Scripture, but how we were to read. I would play a video from N. T. Wright where he discusses reading large swaths of Bible books so one might gain a...
This excerpt on the return of Jesus is adapted from Dr. Heiser’s book I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible (see all Dr. Heiser’s books). *** Few things in the Bible attract more attention than prophecies about the end times. Even people...
Peter SantucciThough Eugene Peterson is now known as a writer, this wasn’t always the case. His first attempts at writing books only brought him frustration along with a string of rejection letters. In fact, because of this lack of traction, he told me he ghost...
by Luke Nagy We’ve all heard the saying, “this world is not my home; I’m just a passing thro’.” The words are from a hymn penned in 1919, and arranged in 1937. It reflects a popular attitude among Christians in America at the time, and currently. A...
Douglas Moo writes, “The apostle Paul has arguably had a greater impact than any figure other than Jesus Christ Himself.” Moo, a New Testament scholar and professor at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, has spent more than 30 years in intense...
You know about Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli. You may even know about Thomas Cranmer and John Knox. . . . But what do you know about the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation? Learn how one pre-Reformer set the stage for Martin...
Karen EngleBible commentaries are one of the best tools to have on hand when doing deeper Bible study, researching for a paper, or prepping for a sermon. They can bring clarity to language issues, affirm interpretation, bring deeper insight into what a book or...
Mark WardWrenching a Bible verse out of context isn’t the only bad Bible-quoting habit out there. There is a more subtle set of unfortunate customs we use in evangelical churches when we quote the Bible. Here’s an example: a relative of mine was reading to...
Did you know it’s easy to find Jesus in the Old Testament? Once you know how to look, you’ll find him everywhere—through prophecies, typology, and much more.
Why were John Calvin’s writings more popular than one of Martin Luther’s disciples, Martin Bucer? In this video excerpt from the Mobile Ed course Understanding the Protestant Reformation: Precursors and Legacy, Gerald L. Bray, author of Doing...
Lexham PressThe Christmas season easily overwhelms, and meaning can be lost in the busyness. But a new Christmas devotional by Mark M. Yarbrough, Tidings of Comfort & Joy: 25 Devotions Leading to Christmas, reminds us why we celebrate with 25 short...
According to its opening verses, the book of Proverbs was written to help you 1) know what wisdom is, 2) recognize wisdom when you see it, 3) do wise things, 4) keep growing, and 5) remain anchored in God’s Word. The wisdom of Proverbs is neither a...
Marty O. WynnNow you’ve done it! You said yes to teaching an adult Sunday School class. And you are asking yourself, “What was I thinking?” Please permit me to offer you some encouragement. You can do this by God’s strength—you are embarking on the blessed...
Jennifer Powell McNuttOne cannot explore the emergence of the Protestant Reformation without talking about the contribution of Renaissance humanism—what I like to call “the tie that binds.” As one scholar declared famously, “No humanism, no Reformation.” Today...
Meisha CurryThe temptation is there—to just skim the Bible stories you’ve heard numerous times. Noah, animals, lots of water, check, got it! The path of least resistance for any Sunday school teacher is simply reciting the provided curriculum word for word...