Acts 2:47

THE GREATEST STORY: Chapter 2 – The Middle

(September 02, 2024) Dr Jim McClure shares more about The Greatest Story…

Following the prophet Malachi’s death there were no further prophetic revelations about Israel. For over 400 years the nation went into spiritual decline, and lost its independence first to the Greeks and then to the Romans. 

Throughout the centuries the prophets consistently challenged the moral and social corruption which the Bible describes as ‘darkness’ — but also revealed that God had not turned His back on humankind. While they had strongly denounced humanity’s rejection of God, they also affirmed that this had not resulted in God’s rejection of humankind!  They also revealed that the message of the Old Testament was not the whole story but just the beginning of a much bigger story.

They further indicated that a new chapter would begin when God Himself would personally get involved on planet earth — a chapter revealing God’s loving plan to reach out to a fallen, broken world by becoming personally involved!

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POWERFUL PRE-PENTECOST PRAYER

(May 15, 2024) Wayne Swift again calls it as it is, sharing some thoughts about those united first Christians who excelled in obeying a particular command of Jesus, and witnessed the birth of the church!

To excel in something, even a leisure pursuit – golfing, surfing, fishing – you have to follow a certain process.

Now when it comes to living as Christians – including whatever God wants us to be involved in – we are often quick to think that we can ‘produce the goods’ simply by wishing or hoping. And there are many times when we think all our dreams will come true without any effort or change on our part.

Our goal as Christians is pretty clear – to win people to Christ. But it takes prayer, time, involvement… and that’s the process before the event.

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ENDURING CHURCH PRINCIPLES – PART 1

(March 22, 2021) Dr Jim McClure, straight shooting theologian, shares important church growth principles…

 This past year has been a challenging time for churches throughout the world as each local church has attempted to redefine how to perform and survive as a church.

The Covid-19 experience has been challenging and at times oppressive, and, because of the present state of the world, we who belong to the church could so easily sink into despair. But for one fact – God is still in control!

I believe that the challenges of these days may prove to be a positive thing for Christians and churches as it may challenge us to look more seriously at what we honestly believe, to whom we are unmistakably committed, the significance and relevance of how we live as Christians and how we operate as the body that we call the ‘Church.’

There are many Christians today who somehow have embraced the idea that the church as we find it in the New Testament provides a perfect picture of what the church of today should be like. But… the letters of Paul, Peter and John illustrate that the churches to which they wrote were clearly not perfect principally because they were composed of imperfect people – like every church today!

Some time ago I read an article that was titled, Getting Back to the New Testament Pattern. It was based on Acts 2:40-47 and listed 13 items which the writer claimed represented the biblical pattern of Christian worship and behaviour for all ages. In fact several the items listed in the article were never part of the church beyond the first months of its existence after the Day of Pentecost. (more…)