Gospel.com Blog

The June issue of the free Meet with God Bible study is up at the Back to the Bible website! Meet with God is a monthly study guide that contains 4 different studies, each focused around a particular question about God or faith. The June issue tackles these questions:

• How Can Five Plus Two Equal Five Thousand? In the economy of faith, God provides for every need even in surprising ways. 

• Why Does the World Hate Jesus? Following Jesus’ example can produce strong, even hateful responses. 

• Why Don’t People Just Believe? Learn how God can use misfortune to bring people to faith. 

• If I Die, Is That the End? Jesus answers the life and death questions in His own work.

It’s a nice resource both for spending some time in Bible study each month and working your way through some of the tough questions about Christianity. And once you’ve worked your way through this month’s study, there’s an archive of past Meet with God studies for you to check out.

It wasn’t so long ago that wheelchair ramps weren’t required. Nor was it all that long ago to find that a mental health facility was little more than a prison. While there’s still room for improvement, the attitude towards disabilities in the United States is much better than it used to be.

A recent article from Lausanne World Pulse discusses the perception of disability in developing nations as well as the attitudinal barriers that must be breached to bring dignity to all peoples:

While giving birth to her fourth child, a mild stroke left Amie with hemiplegia, causing a definite limp and limited usefulness of one arm. Since the village “doctor” was unable to cure her (through physical and sexual abuse), her husband kept the children and sent Amie away to fend for herself.

These stories are typical of the experience of many disabled persons in developing nations, and represent a form of spiritual bondage which maintains a wall of separation between the temporarily able-bodied and the disabled. This separation presents a significant barrier to the gospel which must be overcome.

My concept of missions is broad and focuses on the total redemptive and restorative work which Jesus emphasized in Luke 4:18-19 when he read from Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Interested in attending a Christian conference this year, but unable to do so in this difficult economy? The Revival Conference 2009, organized by the folks behind the excellent SermonIndex.net, is underway now and you can tune in online! Here’s how the Revival Conference site describes it:

There are over 10,000 conferences that happen every year. The ‘Revival Conference’ is not to be just another conference but a honest, sincere, earnest plea for the desperate need of revival. There is no cost to attend the event. No materials will be sold. There will be no big bands. The conference will have the chief object to be God-glorifying. The speakers will come on their own accord trusting God for provision. There will be no emphasis on money during the event. The event will be a simple, apostolic, yearning for a genuine biblical revival in our day.

The conference webcast went online just a few minutes ago with an opening prayer meeting, and will continue through this Thursday, June 4. Watch it online at the Revival Conference website or catch the highlights via the Twitter feed.