Serious About Scripture

Mentoring and motivating Christ’s people to live his words

How I Introduced Daniel 7

I spent seven weeks teaching through Daniel 1-6. It was so enjoyable and fairly easy to keep people engaged. But in the back of my mind I knew that the sometimes dreaded second half of Daniel was looming. I understand why some Bible teachers exposit the first half of the book and then punt with a line like, “Sometime in the future, we’ll come back and work through the much more complicated chapters 7-12.” Most who have said that haven’t…

To Teach My Poor Mind

A man traversing an ancient stone bridge over a fast moving stream encountered a meditative old soul tossing sticks into the water and straining to see what she had done. She did not lift her head or shift the focus of her eyes from their downward gaze to even acknowledge his presence as he came close. There was nothing trivial about her motions or about the look in her fixated eyes. She anticipated no watchers. She intended no words. She…

Happiness, Hospitality, and Hundreds: The Most Loving Church I Have Ever Experienced

The Lord saved me when I was a freshman in high school in the context of a para-church ministry. Unfortunately, I didn’t commit to a local church at that point in my life. Oh, I attended church — actually, more than one. But I wasn’t taught the importance of baptism nor the necessity of having godly leaders over me and the accountability of fellow believers in an individual church.  During college, I was a Bible major, ironically to become a…