Posts by John Staiger (Page 71)

Sadly, many congregations in the Churches of Christ have mirrored the Western trend towards liberalism over the last five decades. Some celebrate this as a coming of age or emancipation from dead traditionalism. I have the opposite view: I weep as I see genuine souls being duped by the disingenuous. I have always wondered why those who want liberal change do not just leave to be with their newfound denominational equals. Instead, these men and women remain and cause good…

Humility is a lonely state to live in. It’s one thing to strive to have the humility of a servant, but quite another for someone to expect it of you – That we resist! The apostles could not have missed Jesus’ ‘Servant-Lord’ leadership style. They probably were humble men, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t be tempted by pride. In Matthew 18 the apostles fronted up to Jesus and asked him straight: “Who, then, is the greatest in the…

In 1866, before the age of the automobile, if you asked a New York official, “What do you think would be the biggest challenge New York would face if the population suddenly doubled?” He would probably answer: “That would mean another 130,000 horses. Where will we find room to put them all?” 155 years later things have changed. Today, the New York Police Department has about 50 horses in service, and there is also a number used by tourist carriage…

Evangelism begins and ends with friendship in mind. Therein you are inviting the unsaved to meet the best friend that they can possibly have—Jesus! Knowing that you have come from the same place, you are telling sinners to meet your divine friend who has transformed your life. You want them to have every blessing that you have, and more. You want them to be added to his family of faith; those working to become like him. Are they perfect? By…

In my earliest days of door-knocking, I was always afraid that I would meet an irate person who would ask me questions like: “Do you think I’m going to hell?” I was going door-to-door with Tommy Gore in Napier in 1978 and I told him of my concern. He said, “It will never happen.” When asking him why he assured me, “Even when asked directly about hell, no one wants to discuss the thought that they might be going there.”…

To be honest with you, I have read and thought a lot about Abraham and his title, ‘Friend of God,’ and I sometimes feel none the wiser. I know you are ahead of me here, and asking, “What about Jesus calling the disciples his friends?” Yes, that is true, and in John 15:15 Jesus counts all Christians as his personal friends when he says: “…I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I…

Strangely, it may come as a surprise to some, that our Friends, and our Foes, really do define us spiritually. Some individuals just aren’t that likeable, and some of them stay that way for a very long time. Enemies are easy to make and easier still to hang on to. In fact, get to know someone well enough and you will discover that they may have a list of individuals who really don’t want to spend time with them. The…

I have a funny feeling that the men who came to console Job were actually his dearest ‘Old Friends.’ Bildad, Eliphaz and Zophar may not be the ideal poster-boys to promote long-term friendships, but they are as real as it gets when showing how calamity causes a paradigm shift in the order of things. In their eyes Job went from being the man who was most blessed of God, to being the man who was most cursed. So, who else…

You don’t have to be in the church long to start noticing the high rate of Christians who return to the world. It is truly heartbreaking and depressing. Many converts just don’t count the cost. They grow weary and lose heart, and instead of growing in grace and knowledge, they return to their old lifestyles. I praise God for the millions of Christians who, in the spirit of the Prodigal’s father, stand watching and praying that hearts will turn back…

It has been often said, “The same crowd that cried, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,’ at Jesus’ Triumphal Entry, later screamed at his trial, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’” Public executions have been carried out for millennia. They served two basic purposes. Firstly, justice was being seen to be done, and secondly, fear of punishment was being instilled into the populous by the powers that be. The Jewish leadership wanted Jesus dead and discredited. Not…