William Barclay on the Dreams of Men

March 5, 2014 Quotation Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

But if ever men’s dreams of peace and loveliness, and greatness and satisfaction, are to be realized, they can find their realization only in Jesus Christ.

Crowds and compassion

July 24, 2012 Bible Reflection Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

While we might view a crowd as an inconvenience, Jesus viewed the crowd as an opportunity to meet their physical and spiritual needs. There is much we can learn from Jesus’ feeding of the 4,000 as recorded in Mark 8.

Numbering our days: a reflection on Psalm 90

July 14, 2012 Bible Reflection Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

In Psalm 90, the psalmist prays that we might learn to number our days. Is this a call to get busy or is there some other meaning? How should we understand this prayer?

What you build and how you build it matters to God

July 8, 2012 Bible Reflection Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

With 60% of young people walking away from the church, we must evaluate the foundation on which we build and how well we build upon it. The eternal destiny of the next generation is at stake and we cannot afford to continue with such a high failure rate. We must do better.

When Church Becomes a Battle Ground – James 4:1-3

Put two humans together and there is bound to be conflict. As a result of the Fall, conflict is in our DNA. If you put a whole bunch of humans together in a local church the potential for conflict greatly increases. If the conflict escalates, the church can experience an internal battle that should not […]

Why do we make church so complicated?

Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30 that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Why then do we make church so complicated? We have programs and activities that would make the average cruise ship activities director envious. We have men’s groups, women’s groups, singles groups, youth groups, coffee shops, concerts, ministry days, outreach […]

Counterfeits and the real thing

The fact that evil deeds have been done by those who claim allegiance to Christ is a criticism that is sometimes raised against Christianity. In thinking about a response to this critique, it dawned on me that anything of value is likely to be counterfeited. The presence of the counterfeit is a backhanded compliment and speaks to the value of the original.

A lesson learned from angry atheists

A recent post for bravefaith.org got a response from several angry atheists. I share the lesson I learned from this exchange in this post.

Social justice and the church

I find that writing is the best way for me to work toward clarification on an issue. So in this post I will share some thoughts, admittedly incomplete thoughts, on the relationship of the church to the need for social justice in our society. The Bible has a lot to say about social justice. Even […]

A great reminder about Bible reading

If I approach the text with humility and self-denial the result will be much different than if I approach it with a sense of superiority and judgment.