Posts by Bryant Perkins (Page 15)
How Do You Want to be Remembered?
No one is entirely sure how Memorial Day got started. It is so shrouded in mystery that it is a little scholarly specialty; Columbus State University in Georgia even has a dedicated Center for Memorial Day Research. But whatever its origins in this country, whether in the Civil War or earlier, the fundamental practice of Memorial Day – decorating the graves of soldiers – is an ancient one. Human beings, across civilizations, continents, and millennia of history, have sought to…
How Useful Are We?
Someone once said, “Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires, but according to our capacities.” We can all see the truth in that statement when it comes to serving the Lord. When God told Jonah to go and preach in the city of Nineveh, Jonah did not care to go. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, hated enemies of Israel; he did not want those people to repent! So he decided quite literally to travel in…
Why I Attend Every Service
The following article is by Carroll Ellis and appeared in the Gospel Advocate January 1960. It’s still relevant today, and I commend it to your consideration. BP A man has just received a kind invitation. It was not an all-expense paid, deep sea fishing trip, neither was it free tickets to a basketball game. Rather, it was an urgent, pressing invitation to attend public worship. He was not annoyed, embarrassed, teased, but pleased, for he said: “I was glad when…
Why Sing?
Most of us are probably familiar with Martin Luther. When you hear the name, you probably think of him first and foremost as the spark that ignited the Protestant Reformation by nailing his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. What you might not know about Luther is that, among all the changes he made, he was responsible for reintroducing congregational singing into worship. A Jesuit priest once complained he, “has murdered more souls with his songs than with…
For Christ’s Sake
I remember particularly as a boy, though occasionally still today, hearing people close their prayers with the phrase, “in Christ’s name and for his sake we pray”. Have you ever thought about that phrase? Have you ever really considered what we are saying with that expression? We are asking God to look on the face of his only son and to deal with us on his merits, to essentially treat us as if we were him. But that is only…
Work in the Vineyard Today
On the first day of the week before the Passover, Jesus arrived in Jerusalem in what has come to be known as the Triumphal Entry. He was greeted by crowds of people shouting Hosanna to the son of David – essentially, “God save the King” – and waving palm branches (Matt 21:8-9). In other words, he was greeted as a ruler. That did not sit well with the Jewish elites. The situation intensified when Jesus entered the Temple and drove…
Singing with the Spirit
I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. (1 Corinthians 14:15) Congregational singing is one of the most distinctive aspects of our public worship in churches of Christ. It’s certainly the one that stands out to visitors to our services because it is relatively unusual in contemporary Western Christianity; most religious groups over the last 150 or so years have moved to featuring various instruments in their assemblies. That immediately draws attention to…
How Little You Trust Me!
In Matthew 14, we find the story of Jesus walking on the water to go to the disciples. He had insisted that they get into a ship and go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee while he sent the crowd away. Far from the shore, the wind and the waves were assailing them in that small vessel. Then, in the dark of the night, Jesus came walking across the sea to them and they were afraid. But…
The Word of the Lord
Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I…
Tertullian on the Offering
Tertullian (c. 155—c. 240) was the most prolific early Christian writer in the West up until the 4th century. He was a well-educated scholar, schooled in the rhetoric that was the specialty of Roman Africa, where his home city of Carthage was located; according to the church historian Eusebius, he was a lawyer by training. He has been called the “father of Latin Christianity” and the “founder of Western theology” because of his vast influence in the early church. The…
Music in the Chapel
I bet if you stopped 100 people on the street to ask them what they associate with churches of Christ, 90+ would say, “oh, they’re the ones who don’t use instruments” (or even “you don’t believe in music!” as I’ve occasionally heard). That stands out to people because it is something of an oddity in the contemporary West. Most professing Christians grew up attending churches with an organ, or a piano, or guitars and drums, depending on the denomination. Whatever…
Prayer in the Assembly
As we continue our series of lessons on the activities we participate in when we assemble together, we are going to talk today about prayer. The ability to approach God’s throne is a great privilege. But it is also a tremendous responsibility to direct God’s people before him; after all, the one who leads prayer is speaking on behalf of an entire congregation to God! We will make some suggestions for the public (and private) prayer in our sermon, but…