by Dr. Paul Chappell | Sep 24, 2011 | Christian Life
An old Yiddish proverb says, “God gave burdens, also shoulders.” But have you ever felt that your shoulders were too weak to bear your burdens? This is one reason God has made the church a family—that we might bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). Often, God...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Sep 21, 2011 | Media/Resources, Ministry Leadership, Spiritual Leadership Podcast
A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor. But too many sailors want to quit when the sea becomes choppy! Those in ministry regularly experience heaving seas. From personal trials, to ministry needs, to the hostility of our secular culture, ministry has a host of...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Sep 16, 2011 | Current Events
Recent news has reported increased pressure on Israel. From within and without, she is being pushed to accept a Palestinian State with her own borders drawn at indefensible lines. If we look at this situation through the lens of Bible prophecy, it’s not difficult to...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Sep 14, 2011 | Christian Life
I don’t know if angels ever yawn, but if they do, I would imagine they do it during most of our moments of greatest excitement—when our favorite team scores a touchdown, when we drive a hole-in-one, when our hunting bullet successfully finds its mark in big game, or...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Sep 11, 2011 | Christian Life, Current Events
Ten years and one day ago, a street sign of downtown New York stood in the shadow of the south tower of the World Trade Center. The sign marked the intersection of the streets Church and Liberty. Today, the sign still stands. But now it is at the corner of Ground...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Sep 7, 2011 | Current Events
For a nation that has adopted a mantra of tolerance, someone seems to have missed the memo. In the 9/11 commemorative services at Washington National Cathedral, representatives from several religions will be leading—including a Buddhist nun, an Imam, a rabbi, and a...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Sep 3, 2011 | Christian Life, Ministry Leadership
If pompous discord sowing is not pure religion (as we saw in our last post), what is the true “old time religion” supposed to look like? Our natural tendency is to create our own definitions of purity—building longer and more impressive lists of rules every year. But...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Sep 1, 2011 | Christian Life, Ministry Leadership
I preached last Sunday night on “Give Me that Old Time Religion.” But my text wasn’t from Jeremiah 6 about the old paths. In fact, the message itself wasn’t about the “old time religion” in the sense of preserving a culture from earlier days of fundamentalism. From a...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Aug 24, 2011 | Christian Life, Ministry Leadership
In part 1 of this post, we saw that God does some of His greatest works in our lives through suffering, and we began looking at a list of seven reasons for adversity. For a quick recap, here are the first three: The glory of God The growth of His servant The...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Aug 20, 2011 | Christian Life, Ministry Leadership
Without hesitation, I can say that God has done His greatest works in my life through seasons of adversity. Sometimes, however, in moments of introspection we wonder, Why all the suffering? I truly believe that God does far more through suffering than we see at first...