Posts by Billy Arnold (Page 6)
Watching Out for the Wolves
READ AHEAD: Acts 20:13-38 As you prepare for this coming Sunday, read the above Acts passage ahead of time as your homework. In this narrative, you will find that the Apostle Paul gets very personal. It reads like a love letter written from someone on a distant battlefield, writing heartfelt words home to loved ones. You see here how much Paul had poured his soul into these people and how much love he had for the people in the churches—the…
Gospel Conversations Training: A Plea
In a few weeks, we will be hosting Gospel Conversations Training here at LifeWay. This is an all-day event on Saturday, February 26, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. We have announced this upcoming event on Sundays, written about it in the InnerView, and included it in our weekly 90-second updates—but I want to tell you again why is so important for you to spend a Saturday in late February for this training. If you haven’t noticed, I have preached almost every week,…
Mind Wars
1 Corinthians 10:12-13So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. I remember clearly the day I heard 1 Corinthians 10:13. I was a junior in high school, and I had gone to my youth director for advice…
Yes, That Unholy Behavior
Three years ago, I bought my wife a Christmas present: an unlimited car wash membership. We had just bought one of the few new vehicles that we had ever purchased, and she had always wanted an efficient way to keep a brand-new vehicle as new as possible for as long as possible. With this unlimited membership, not only she could go through the exterior wash as often as she wanted, but she could then have the interior vacuumed as often…
Crossing the Line
What bad behavior will send me to hell? Where’s the line in the sand? Wow…what a blunt question. But this is a fairly common question in church family circles. It’s actually something that was brought up when I was in youth group back in the ’70s. It comes up in youth group now, too! Some things never change. We all want to know where the line in the sand is drawn regarding “unholy” behavior. What can we do and not do in…
Prestigious Christianity?
Have you ever met someone prestigious, someone with name power and recognition? I like playing the game where you name three famous people, two of whom you have met and one you have not—two truths and a lie. Let me play the game now. I, Billy Arnold… …have shaken the hand of a U.S. President—before he was president, though. He was running for state governor at the time (now that narrows down which president I am speaking of). …drank coffee…
Should Your Toddler Drive Your Car?
Dealing With the Erosion of Shallowness in Our Church One of my favorite things to do with really young kids is to ask them how old they are. The answers are proudly shouted out: “I AM FIVE YEARS OLD!” Then I ask a follow-up question. “Do you drive a car yet? Do you have a driver’s license?” They seem a little confused and disoriented at that point, because they are trying to find a logical answer for why they don’t…
Ekklesia: The Third Wall
As we begin the new year, we start this coming Sunday with the third wall to building the Church: the Ekklesia Wall. What in the world does Ekklesia mean? And why is it so important for us to know this? I believe that this term, and this wall, is where the rubber meets the road. I believe this wall is the hardest to live out. I believe this is the most challenging wall to us. I am using this coming…
Awe and Wonder in the New Year
From my family to yours: Happy New Year to the wonderful LifeWay Church family! This coming Sunday, January 2, 2022 (!), we are going to have a family-style service—no kids’ classes, no youth group. Instead, kids and youth will join the adults. Together we will celebrate the New Year with some great musical worship, and we will open our Bibles again to an important message about how to Build His Church. I will be closing out the fifth message about…
Christmas is a “Remembrance” Worship
Christmas Eve services are the most beautiful and meaningful services of the year. There is great theological depth to the word, REMEMBRANCE. God has told us that we are to REMEMBER times of undeniable encounters with him. He has instructed us to REMEMBER what he has done when we take the communion meal together with other believers. This week at our Christmas Eve services, we take advantage of this significant holiday in our world—and use this event to truly REMEMBER that…
What Child is This?
This coming Sunday morning, December 19, we will be all in for Christmas during our worship time together. On this day of Christmas celebration, we will have the kids light the fourth Advent candle, we will give a special Christmas gift to the children, and I will share a Christmas message entitled, “What Child is This?” Most of us have a list of favorite Christmas songs; on my favorites list is the song with that title. But it’s not just a…
Joy to the World!
Joy to the World—the 4th Advent Candle One of the most familiar of all Christmas carols starts like this: Joy to the world, the Lord is come!Let earth receive her King;Let every heart prepare Him room,And heav’n and nature sing. We know the story, but do we understand how amazing it is that the God of the universe came down to us AND he came for us—that he is a substitute for what we could not do on our own?…
A Dependent Prayer Life
As you get ready for this Sunday, December 12, read ahead in these three locations out of the book of Acts: Acts 1:12-14 Acts 2:42-47 Acts 4:23-31 Philippians 4:1-13 2 Corinthians 5:7 We are working on building what would be called the second Wall to His Church—the Koinonia/Fellowship wall. This week, I am concentrating on the prayer part of the believers’ life. In each of the above passages, I want you to highlight the word prayer when it appears, thinking…
Breaking Bread, Sharing a Table
There are times when I like to read the Bible slowly, and even in a repetitive fashion. Now, of course I read chapters of the Bible most of time in the same fashion we all read—rather quickly. But I like slow reading, too, as I will go back and review a verse or two over and over again, thinking carefully about why certain words or phrases were used the way they were. This is true of the short passage in…
Advent, Week 2: Love
This coming Sunday, we will enjoy watching the second Advent candle being lit, the candle that represents love. Whose love are we talking about? Luke 1:26-38 tell the story of the angel Gabriel coming to the young virgin girl Mary, who was pledged in marriage to Joseph—but it was announced to her that she would have a child. When this was announced, of course she was scared to the core. But in this announcement, she was told that she has…
Giving Thanks
There is nothing is quite as grand and noble in life than GIVING THANKS! Thanksgiving is such a unique and wonderful American tradition, but as we learned at our Thanksgiving service last Sunday evening, giving thanks is historically not unique to America; it comes out of the tradition that God set up with his covenant people long ago. One of the powerful theological terms that we build our faith on is the word, remember. God says over and over again,…
Devoted to the Word of God
Acts 2:42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship (Koinonia), to the breaking of bread and to prayer. As we taught last Sunday morning, this verse is a snapshot of what was taking place in the early Church that we see in the book of Acts. The amazing events at Pentecost had just occurred; thousands came to faith there in the city of Jerusalem, and the Church (the Koinonia church) was coming together. And what did they do? What was…
Koinonia: The Fellowship Wall
Κοινωνία—The Fellowship Wall We Build for His Church When you are around a church for a while, one of the most familiar terms used to describe it is FELLOWSHIP. The English word here comes from the Greek word in the New Testament, Koinonia (κοινωνία). When I was a young man, this word was most often used as the ideal goal of the Church. There was the feeling that this is what we sought after, described with words like… Caring fellowship Loving…
GIC: What’s the Big Deal?
What’s the big deal with Global Impact Celebration week at LifeWay? Right now as this goes out to our church family, we are in the middle of our annual Global Impact Celebration week. Last night (Wednesday) we kicked things off with a celebration worship service, where we introduced some amazing guests who represent incredible gospel work around the world. But one part of the service really stood out to me. For about eight minutes, we showed a video produced here…
Dear LifeWay Church Family…
You have often heard me say that the Global Impact Celebration (GIC) week at our church is far and away the most important week of the year. I have said that now for 10 years; that has been and remains to be true to this day. With that said, I’m writing this to remind you of the value of what is coming over the next few days. I am pleading with you, as your pastor, to treat this week with extra care and attention. If…
Preparing for Sunday
Beginning with last Sunday, we are taking four Sundays to work through the biblical application of the word, OBEDIENCE. The essence is that we must determine our identity, and then literally live it out—do it—BE it. Take a moment and try to remember back as a child, to what you dreamed of being as a grown-up. I wanted to be a naturalist—a wildlife specialist of some kind. All I knew of and imagined in this job was that I would spend…
Global Impact Celebration—GIC Time
I recently preached two of what I call “location sermons” on video. The first of those sermons was in front of the Annex, where I began many years ago. The second sermon was in front of our main building, which was built about 30 years ago. I did this to help illustrate the fact that we think a church is traditionally formed—a building, a place, a pastor, a sermon. These elements are wonderful parts of our history, but they are not…
Preparing for Spiritual Battles
Have you ever been in battle? I mean a real military battle! For me, one who was born in the USA in the late 1950s, I was never in the military. I was too young for Vietnam. Neither of my parents served in the military—they were too young for WWII. Neither of my grandfathers served in the military—they were both too young for WWI, and too old for WWII. My wife’s father served in the Korean conflict days, but didn’t…
Distributing the Priceless Bounty of God’s Kingdom
Have you ever owned something of great value that was extremely precious to you? Have you ever shared something of great personal value with someone who benefited greatly from it—maybe something that filled a huge void in the person’s life? A meal to someone who was hungry? A tutoring lesson to someone who needed help with a classroom assignment? Emotional support to someone who was experiencing grief? A shoulder to cry on for someone experiencing pain? This coming Sunday morning…
The Kingdom Wall is Built by Kingdom Citizens
The label of citizen in our country has been in the news quite a bit these days. As soon as you read this, some of you will turn your thoughts toward the politics of this term and how we should or should not apply it to our country and our borders. Let me quickly tell you to take your mind off of that and turn your thoughts instead to the storyline that is found in Acts 2:36-41. Peter was addressing…