Shadyside Church of Christ

There is a bottom line purpose for preaching and teaching the word of God.  The goal of teaching is often seen as converting people to Christ Jesus, but this is only the beginning point.  To stop here is to fall far short of the end purpose which the Holy Spirit has set for teaching the word.  Experience is telling us that too many churches are failing to pursue this ultimate purpose for teaching...

The devil is working hard in the world today to close off people from God and from each other. God is being pushed out of the public square, and people are isolating themselves in their political and religious enclaves, holed up behind their tablet and cell phone screens. Dialogue is minimal and the art of communication has been replaced with the science of verbal warfare. The word of God plainly...

Sin is a "non-starter" subject for lots of people. Most don't understand sin, and others simply try to downplay its effects. But scripture teaches that mankind's sin is the cause of all human misery and troubles. This is readily seen played out in the book of Genesis after Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. It is a tale of heartache and woe. But the good news is that Jesu...

Toward the beginning of His ministry Jesus had come to the synagogue in Nazareth and read from Isaiah 61 which told of the mission of the Messiah. He told those present that day the scripture was fulfilled in their hearing. Good news would be preached to the poor. Captives would be set free. The blind would see. Understanding the spiritual nature of the kingdom of God, do we know who these people...

The parable of the sower is familiar to most of us, but it will always yield "a crop" of understanding when we look into it again and take a closer look. We are advised to read our familiar scriptures even more carefully. This parable provides great insights into several aspects of the kingdom of God. Did you know that whenever anyone gets up to preach, to teach a class or even to have a...

Sometimes we just don't want to do certain things in life: get out of bed in the morning; clean the bathroom; go to the dentist. And sometimes we don't want to follow the Lord's call and do what He wants: make a visit to Sister Crabapple; lead a study; greet visitors. We are not alone in this. Scripture records several who offered their excuses and resisted God's call to serve....

We are taught that all scripture is inspired of God and profitable for teaching, but some scriptures (even entire books) seem to be neglected. Philemon is one such letter. Despite having only 25 verses, this book of scripture paints a beautiful picture of Christian love influencing life and yields many lovely and enduring truths for us to take to heart and follow.

Jesus affirmed in two different places that all things were possible with God, but scripture plainly teaches that God has restrictions even on Himself when it comes to certain things. For example, God cannot lie. When it comes to His dealings with us, there are also restrictions which God has set in place which are usually characterized by such key words as "unless," "except,"...

The world is craziness and "nut-ness" these days, and this often makes us all agitated and frizzed out on the inside. Jesus said that in the world there would be tribulation. It is a broken and dying world which dishes out plenty of trouble and turmoil. But how do we find peace among all the lunacy? Many seek it with their drug of choice, booze and other forms of escape. Jesus said that...

Just what was this early kingdom community like? It was growing, and this generated some problems which had to be resolved. It was empowered by heavenly, supernatural power: miraculous healings, the word of God, prayer and the Holy Spirit. People were drawn to them in seeing their unity, their caring for one another, and in hearing their message of the resurrected Christ. As we continue today in t...

The new community took their Lord seriously and went out with His message. But it didn't take long for them to receive opposition. The religious leaders of the Jewish establishment felt threatened by the power displayed in the healing of the lame beggar and the power of the message of a resurrected Jesus of Nazareth whom Peter says they crucified. So they threaten the apostles not to teach in...

How important it is for any group, country or organization to stay true to the purposes for which it was brought into existence and the beliefs upon which it was founded. The early church remained focused upon their Master Jesus and began immediately to live according to His words. In keeping with Jesus' command they begin at once to fulfill their purpose as "light of the world" and...

The kingdom of heaven had both earthbound and supernatural beginnings. On Pentecost (Acts 2), three significant Old Testament prophecies were shown to be true and fulfilled - the coming of the Holy Spirit on all flesh, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and the establishment of a new covenant community (the church) in which there was true forgiveness of sins. The roots of the church run deep...

Our series continues to remind us of our historical and heavenly roots. From the mountain top experience of Jesus' ascension the apostles return to the confines of an upper room. Here they are faced with the new reality. Jesus is gone having left them with a promise and the command to wait. They must replace a traitor who was among them. They are only about 120 in number. What is there left t...

The kingdom of God, the church, had a beginning. God established it and set it in motion with definite purposes and organization to further those purposes. In this series of lessons, we want to revisit the beginnings of the church of Jesus Christ to be reminded of both its historical and heavenly foundations. In this day and age when evil seems to be making such great advances, we must be certain...

The human family is one of God's greatest gifts to us, but He has an even greater gift for us that that. He has His own family into which we can be adopted. This adoption as "sons of God" is more than some kind of spiritual symbolism, but is a reality of life in the kingdom, a genuine happening. Consider this: Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father, but all other sons are adop...

Shootings in schools and churches; aborting of over 300,000 babies in this country every year; sexual abuse and immorality everywhere; lack of civility and the use of profanities and vulgarities in every media; et al - What has happened? 50, 40, 30 years ago, such was not the case. When God and His word are rejected, man replaces Him with himself and his own philosophies. The result - disaster!! N...

Joy in God's people is a theme throughout the Bible. They rejoiced that the Lord was their God and because of all His goodness toward them. It seems, though, that this joy in the Lord is lost on the church today. We are sober, solemn and somber, but are never full of rejoicing in our God and His Christ. Peter gives us more than good reminders why the Christian should rejoice with "joy in...

We like choices, and God gives us plenty of them. From foods to eat, flowers to plant and enjoy to different kinds of pets, the Lord has given us many options. There are even other options like places to live, jobs to hold, schools to attend, channels to watch, etc. But some things none of us can avoid, even though many of us try. We must all come to grips with these non-optional aspects of life....

Often we want to show someone that we truly care about them but don't know exactly what to do or what to say. We end up being upset with ourselves thinking we could have done more or been more encouraging. Sometimes we don't do anything! Jesus whole life is an example of loving others so we need to look carefully at how He went about it. Here's a little memory clue: L - A - T - T -...

Whenever something is billed as "free," it might be free to the recipients, but we can be sure that somebody paid for it. People go to soup kitchens for a free lunch, but someone supplies the food, the building, the work of preparation, etc. There is a cost involved. God invites people to come and receive the "free gift" of life eternal. This gift is free to those who will acce...

King Hezekiah faced two seemingly hopeless situations in his day. One was on a national level, and the other was very personal. But he turned to the Lord God in prayer, and God heard him and answered him with two amazing deliverances. Hezekiah believed that prayer can change things. Perhaps we can learn some lessons about prayer from Hezekiah.

Today's church needs to start thinking like its God - to think small! One day matters. One hour matters. One minute matters. One good deed matters. One good word matters. One word of comfort matters. One uplifting word matters. One soul matters. One person matters - no matter their background and current "baggage." One soul seeker matters. One kingdom worker matters. One matters

They said that John the Baptist and Jesus each had a demon. Paul was accused of being out of his mind. When you don't think like the world, believe like the world, or act like the world, the world will call you crazy, stupid, weird and a whole lot more. You might lose friends, job, position and get ostracized from your group. We are warned not to fear men nor what they can do to us. Are you g...

Scripture tells us (so does secular history) that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified by the Romans, nailed to a cross. But the Bible also tells us that some other things were nailed to Jesus' cross when He was. What are those things? Do they have anything to do with my salvation? And if they do, how do I avail myself of them? Hmmm?