Oldham Lane Church of Christ

Saints beget saints. You grow inwardly so that you can grow outwardly. You grow YOU so that you can grow THEM. Church growth is about training the people of God to become what God wants them to be so that they can go do what God expects them to do. Simply put, we are to GROW and GO.

Sadly, not all godly children grow up to be godly adults. Although their parents raised them in a godly home, their children have chosen not to glorify God in their own home. And all too often, parents receive the blame. The finger always seems to point back to mom and dad. That’s a judgment we need to avoid making. In fact, if our assessment of parenting is based solely on how the child turns out...

We often talk about church growth. The question is often asked, “How do we grow the church? What must we do to grow?” When the truth of the matter is, we don’t grow the church. We plant. We water. We feed. We nourish. But there’s a metabolic thing going on that is out of our control and that we have nothing to do with. We sow. He grows. We irrigate. He regenerates. God is the grower. We are the so...

God has been honest with us in telling us that there will be trouble in this life. This life is hard. But God has also made us a promise. There is hope on the horizon. There is a glorious future awaiting us.

The resurrection is the single greatest event in the history of the world. It only means everything!

Contrary to popular opinion, the Bible does not teach, anywhere, that God will give you the strength to do whatever you set your mind to. God is not some heavenly genie or divine sugar daddy. He’s not some cosmic power plant who fuels your dreams. Instead, He is our sustainer in an unstable world.

What’s your fig leaf? Is it your appearance? Is it initials after your name or degrees on the wall? Is it rule-following? Is it avoidance? What’s your cover? It should be Jesus

Plenty of people hear the word of God. They read it. They study it. They memorize it. They can recite it upon command. But do they live it? At some point, hearing must turn into doing. Head knowledge doesn’t mean a thing without heart doing. It’s not how much you know. It’s what you do with what you know.

Far too many Christians are living a less-than-fulfilling existence because they still believe that they are the object of God’s wrath. May we never forget that the wrathful God became the atonement for our sin that we so desperately needed. The angry God provided a way for His own wrath to be appeased, which means that there is NO CONDEMNATION AT ALL! It’s time to wake up to your own salvation an...

God works in us to bring about the transformation that we so desperately need. The Philippians were being transformed from the inside out, and so are we. God is working to change our affections and our complete manner of life. However, we are not passive in this work. We must actively imitate the humility of Jesus. We must strive to be more like Him. We must live a surrendered life.

There are far too many Christians who are completely satisfied with being lukewarm. They are lukewarm and loving it. Too many Christians believe that they have enough of God in their lives. What they don’t realize is that they are on the verge of spiritually bankruptcy. And what’s worse than being spiritually bankrupt? Being numb.

We often use scripture as a means for proof-texting our beliefs, which is not entirely bad. It’s almost unavoidable. But we must be careful when using the Bible in this manner because sometimes scripture isn’t answering the question that we’re asking. Case in point—Romans 10:9 & 10.

Worship is an end in and of itself. Worship is never a step on the way to something else. Worship should never be pursued as a means to achieving something other than worship. Worship is not a door through which we pass to get somewhere else. Worship is the goal.

In John Chapter 4, Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman who is drawing water from a well. Our Lord reveals His identity to her and offers her a gift—Spirit and Truth. His identity is the Messiah, and His gift is the Holy Spirit.

Hypocrisy is the gap between what we show and who we are. It’s the gap between what we say and how we live. It’s the gap between our public persona and our private character. We close the gap with Jesus!

God does not take death lightly. He takes all death seriously; whether it’s a one-hundred-year-old man or an infant. Both are costly in God’s eyes. Make no mistake, death is the enemy. Death entered the picture in the Garden of Eden with the fall of man, and it’s been a problem ever since.

Pride is behind EVERY sin. Every sin that has ever been committed, is being committed, or will be committed is because of pride. Therefore, pride is the number one thing that keeps people out of heaven.

Don’t allow politics to shape you! Don’t allow politics to shape your worldview. Don’t allow politics to shape your view of people. Don’t allow politics to shape your view of faith. Let Jesus do that. Let Him and Him alone shape you.

Where’s your treasure? Life follows your heart. So, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Your heart is mobile, which means that we have complete control over where it goes, what it follows, and what it worships.

Remember the “W.W.J.D.” bracelets that were popular in the 90’s. The origins of the acronym W.W.J.D. can be traced back to a Kansas preacher and author named Charles Sheldon who wrote a book back in the 1800’s entitled In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? The book has sold over 30 million copies. Sheldon encouraged his congregation and the readers of his book to not do anything without first asking...

The context of Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:20 has nothing to do with small gatherings outside the church building. Rather, it pertains to the theme of handling conflict within the church. Jesus tells us how to properly deal with church discipline by spelling out the process.

God wants to use our mess to draw us closer to Him. All trials have the same goal—TO GROW YOU. In fact, spiritual growth cannot occur without trials.

Life isn’t easy as a Christ follower, but salvation is. There is no place more restful and meaningful than under the yoke of our gentle and humble master.

All of life is defined by growth. Seedlings grow into plants and trees. Grass grows. Organisms grow. Businesses grow. Hopefully our investments grow. How many things in life are considered good or right or successful based on growth? Without a doubt, faith would fall into that category.