Articles categorized as Music

Something New Under the Sun: Ancient Wisdom for Contemporary Living – 12. THE VIEW FROM THE PENTHOUSE

12. The View From the Penthouse   I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.   Ecclesiastes 2:9   Here is his story, briefly told: At age six, his mother threw his birthday cake off the porch. He played the French Horn at age […]

The ABC’s of Wisdom: Building Character with Solomon – Perspective

PERSPECTIVE   No Milk Without Manure   Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest. Proverbs 14:4   Every farmer understands this verse. If you want a clean stable, get rid of the oxen. But if you want cat­tle, you’ve got to put […]

The ABC’s of Wisdom: Building Character with Solomon – Excellence

EXCELLENCE   Doing Your Best All the Time   Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men. Proverbs 22:29   Children and young adults need to memorize this verse because we are told over and over that it’s not what you know, […]

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About The Christian Life – Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Which church should I join?   I live in a suburb of Chicago called Oak Park. Approximately fifty-three thousand people live here. On many street corners you can find a mas­sive church structure. At the turn of the century, when Oak Park was the first affluent suburb on the railroad west from Chicago, […]

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About The Christian Life – Chapter 10

Chapter 10 How can I share my faith?   Let me describe a situation and ask how you would respond. Let’s suppose that you are a missionary arriving for service in a coun­try you have never visited. Although you didn’t plan to visit the cap­ital city, your itinerary was changed suddenly and now you find […]

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About The Christian Life – Chapter 12

Chapter 12 What is heaven like?   Here are two statements that seem to be almost universally true: Everyone wants to know about heaven, and everyone wants to go there. Recent polls suggest that nearly 80 percent of all Americans believe there is a place called heaven.15 I find that statistic encourag­ing because it tells […]

Samson and the Fine Art of Self-Control

In December 2004 I received an email that changed my life. Right after the tsunami that devastated Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India, Ramesh Richard, a professor at Dallas Seminary, sent an email that contained a simple, one-sentence prayer. He called it a “dangerous” prayer. The moment I saw that prayer I knew that it […]

True Freedom for China

TRUE FREEDOM FOR CHINA by Ray Pritchard Someone asked us, “What surprised you about China?”

Discernment: Making Wise Choices Under Pressure

DISCERNMENT: MAKING WISE CHOICES UNDER PRESSURE by Ray Pritchard “So that you may be able to discern what is best” (Philippians 1:10a). This is a prayer for spiritual discrimination. In our day discrimination has a mostly negative tone, but in the spiritual realm we desperately need to discriminate between good an…

Reaching, Teaching, Caring, Worshiping

REACHING, TEACHING, CARING, WORSHIPING by Ray Pritchard At the Biannual Business Meeting in March, I announced to the membership that we are reorganizing the staff and all the ministries of the church around four great biblical priorities–reaching, teaching, caring, and worshiping. The idea came to me as I read Rick Warre…