Posts by Bryant Perkins (Page 2)

So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. (Ezekiel 33:7-8) James Rowe is one…

Most of us remember the story of Job. He was the wealthiest man in all of the East. He had a houseful of 10 children. He was a righteous man who feared God and turned away from evil, so that even God said there was no one else like him. And that made him a target for Satan: would Job still serve God when everything was taken away from him? In a flash, he lost it all—his cattle, his flocks,…

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? – Psalm 137:1-3 There are times when all of us are tempted to become discouraged. “Don’t lose your song” is, in a sense, something…

If there were a test available that could measure our level of spiritualty or faithfulness, how would we score? On the surface it appears that most of the time we feel things are going well and we are doing a pretty good job of being a Christian. I imagine most of us, if asked, “How are you doing?” would answer, “I’m doing fine.” But I wonder if that is not like the pat answers we give in the foyer when…

As many of you know, I am on vacation in the Great Smoky Mountains this week. I am writing this around sunrise on Friday morning from the back porch of our cabin, perched on the crest of a mountain, as I look at the first rays of light peak over the mountains beyond and me and then pierce the valley below. I cannot help but think of what the Psalmist says: The heaven declare the glory of God, and the…

He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his…

I have noticed the very meme talked about below making the rounds on social media over the last week or so; multiple friends have shared it and I have responded to them to try to correct any misunderstandings. I had contemplated writing about it in this space when, lo and behold, I found Friday morning before the bulletin was printed that Jack Wilkie decided to write about the very same thing that day. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel,…

After services this morning, we will gather to honor our graduates. We are just days away from what is technically called “commencement.” Why commencement? After all, “to commence” is to begin, to start—and graduation is an ending, isn’t it? The word does come from a Latin word meaning “beginning.” That is because, in medieval times—when academics actually wore that ridiculous cap and robe we all have forced upon us now—you did not finish at the university and go out into…

I am supposed to be preaching in Woodville this Sunday. If you are reading this in the printed bulletin on Sunday morning, then we know whether or not I made it there; as I write this early on a Friday morning, the rising waters have put it very much in doubt. But it got me to thinking about a song we sing as children about “The Wise Man”: The rains came down/and the floods came up. Of course, that song…

Someone asked me a few days ago, “why is it that Easter does not always fall on the Passover?” After all, we know Jesus was crucified on the week of Passover—it would make sense if the annual observance of his resurrection, which occurred three days later, was celebrated at the same time. Without going too far down the historical rabbit hole, the short answer is that after a couple of centuries of increasing distance between early Christianity and Judaism, there…

The deadline to file your income tax return—or, if you prefer to put it off as long as possible, your extension—passed this week. Some of us might have received a refund (of the interest-free loan we made to the government over the past year); others might be smarting from having to write a check. In either case, no one is really fond of paying taxes. It is remarkable, then, that the most noteworthy fact about the apostle Matthew, the author…

Last week in this space, we laid out a theology of giving. Of course, giving is a broader topic than just the offering we take up every Lord’s Day. But the weekly contribution in particular is one of the most neglected aspects our assemblies—it makes us all rather uncomfortable to talk about. That is unfortunate, because it is extremely significant. The earliest Christians were characterized by their readiness to give. And when we study it deeply, we find there are…