Posts by Liberty Church of Christ

We were privileged to have our brother Rod Kyle, the missionary we support in New Zealand, report to us on Wednesday evening. Many of you were unable to be here for that, so I thought it might be good to include an excerpt from the latest email he sent us from earlier in the summer right before he left on his tour of the US to report. Barbara emails these to everyone when they come in, but it could be…

I have written and preached on this topic more than once since I have been here. But this article by Jack Wilkie, published this week, was so on point I wanted you to read it too. It’s length barely allows it to fit here, but it is worth your attention. As always, I encourage you to check out his substack, “Church Reset.” -BP “ I just hope I’ve done enough to get in to heaven.” Every time I hear an…

I published this in the bulletin here before, a little over 3 years ago. But in thinking about our call for Bible class teachers (and Bible class attendance!), it came to my mind again. Of course, it goes beyond just Bible class—with restarting our Wednesday evening services this summer, our new Sunday night routine, and numerous other opportunities for service as we try to reengage after an unusual last 18 months, there are constant announcements made and items in the…

I didn’t really know what I wanted to say this week here. I almost left it blank just to see who noticed. But then I stumbled upon this article by Wes McAdams that touches on some things I’ve been thinking about more directly (read: less passive-aggressively). Think about it. -BP I don’t like the phrase, “Going to church.” It makes people think “church” is simply an event to attend, rather than who we are every day of the week. That…

This is another article recently published by Jack Wilke. It is actually an excerpt from his book, “Church Reset,” which we used in a Bible class here a few years ago. I wanted to print it in this space because it goes hand in hand with our current sermon series on building real community in the church. If you missed that class, consider buying the book and reading it for yourself—it has some excellent insights. -BP There’s a reason Jesus…

I read this new article on Jack Wilkie’s “Church Reset” substack a couple of weeks ago and knew immediately I wanted to share it here (and would have then if I did not already have something written). It neatly encapsulates some of the very same concerns that I have talked about before. As always, I encourage you to check out his page for more excellent content. -BP Are you Christian, or Christian-ish? What’s the difference? The Christian-ish is a phenomenon…

We celebrated Independence Day earlier this week. While we often reflect on the Founding Fathers of our nation at this time, I also think it is valuable for us to occasionally contemplate what our spiritual forebears might teach us.. David Lipscomb was the editor of the Gospel Advocate for more than 50 years in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Fittingly, we have for your consideration his views on the relationship between Christians and the civil government, a topic…

In light of Father’s Day being celebrated this Sunday, I thought it might be beneficial to publish this excellent post from Wes McAdams on a passage that a lot of people seem to struggle with. When we interpret it rightly, I think there is great insight for all parents and other influential figures in a child’s life here. This is part of a whole series of posts reexamining well known Scriptures; I encourage you to check it out along with…

For most of my life it’s been rare to meet someone who is a bigger sports fan than me. As a kid, I played what must have been thousands of hours of hockey and joined in basketball, football, and baseball games every chance I got. Once I outgrew the competing phase of my life, the consuming phase took up an even bigger portion of my time. I’m one of those guys who could recount decades of Super Bowl, World Series,…

Consider this article on where the resurrection of the dead fits into the gospel from Wes McAdams’ blog “Radically Christian.” As always, I recommend you go check out the entire site. -BP When modern Christians teach people the Gospel, we typically begin by trying to convince them they have a problem about which they are blissfully unaware. We try to teach them that their biggest problem is, “God is angry with you and will soon punish you forever.” In reality,…

This week, Focus Press’s podcast, “Think Deeper,” tackled the issue of when someone is ready to be baptized and ancillary topics. Among those was the subject of rebaptism. That got me thinking about this area; we just published an article in this space a few weeks ago dealing with what a person needs to know prior to baptism, so it seemed good to deal with rebaptism in particular. Many of you have heard me speak about this over the years,…

This article was written by Wes McAdams and published on his blog, “Radically Christian,” earlier this week. I thought it was timely on a couple of levels. For one, as we study through OT history in our Sunday morning Bible class, we encounter Israel making idols and worshipping false gods; this helps to clarify why even those graven images that ostensibly represented YHWH, like the golden bulls of Jeroboam, were forbidden. More importantly, for all of us, it gives practical…