Articles by Marty Kessler

As a babe he came and in a manger lay, to ease our burden and light our way. “Emmanuel”, he would be called, God with us in an animals’ stall. “House of bread” was the name of the town, where Mary lay her baby down. Apropos is the name indeed for with the bread of life this babe does feed, the souls of men who hunger and thirst for the righteousness we are led to seek first. It is not just a story...

Faith is trusting God about what he has said. Faith is believe believing in Jesus, even though you weren’t there when he walked the earth. You did not see his cross, but you believe he was crucified in your place. Your voice was not heard outside the empty tomb, but you will say with everything in you that you believe he stepped out of it fully alive. You haven’t seen heaven where your name is wri...

Jesus asked a woman for a drink of water. She responded by asking him why a Jew would ask a Samaritan woman (which she was) for a drink, since Jews and Samaritans were not known to get along. Leaving her question hanging, he went on to make a much more profound point. He said, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would hav...

A carpenter would never complain about hammer because it wouldn’t cut wood. A cook would not throw away a wooden spoon because they can’t boil an egg in it. These may seem like pointless observations, but consider how we often diminish our value because we can’t do what some others can. Hammers and wooden spoons have specific purposes. So do you. Do you know what you’ve been designed and gifted to...

(a question much too complex for a bulletin article cover) No other people are as uniquely related to God as the Jews. He specifically called Abraham to create through him a nation that would bring his son and therefore eternal life to the entire world. The message of John 3:16 makes it succinctly clear that God’s eternal focus was never on one nation, but on the coming of his Son for the world. A...

Above is the wisdom of Solomon regarding generosity. He says our bread will return to us after many days (Ecclesiastes 11:1). In fact, a dandy bit of “bread” returned to us just this week. We received a very nice card and a generous contribution from a congregation of the Lord’s people in Owatonna, Minnesota. In that card, several members expressed the following sentiments….. “Thank you for your w...

Have you ever faulted yourself for taking something for granted? You might presume, even subconsciously, that your ability to see is a given. You accept the gift of sight without considering the cause behind it. We are taught that such blessings are from God as James wrote: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no va...

Remember these lines? “Think about it, there must be a higher love Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above Without it, life is wasted time, Look inside your heart, and I'll look inside mine Things look so bad everywhere, In this whole world, what is fair? We walk the line and try to see, Fallin' behind in what could be” “Worlds are turnin', and we're just hanging on Facing our fear, and sta...

The movie is a true story about human trafficking. It especially addresses the kidnapping of children as objects for sale to assuage the lusts of godless people. It is said that there are more people enslaved today than ever before in human history, and this move shines a great light on this evil. If no one spent a dime on human trafficking, if markets for children as commodities lacked paying cus...

On July fourth, 1776, the Continental Congress of the thirteen American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. A new nation was born taking upon itself the responsibility for self-government. But the founding fathers, and indeed other national leaders who followed them, understood that without the dependence of individual citizens on Almighty God, our form of government would be ...

The tree pictured is a desert willow, planted many years ago in one of the islands in our parking lot here at the church building. I am amazed it is still in such good shape. More than one ice storm has ravaged its limbs and broken off an uppermost portion of the trunk. I suspect it was some of our little ones who’ve broken off many of the lower limbs from time to time. A large hole was bored into...

I’m going on vacation, to relieve my tired mind, I can’t wait to start forgetting, all the stuff I’ll leave behind. My job with all its stress will be the first thing that will go, and maybe then those constant bills that to my mailbox flow. I’ll forget about those people who always bring me strife, their caustic negativity is just a blight on life. I’ll turn off tv, twitter & surely facebook too,...

This is not a confession, but a statement of fact. I know it is a fact because one of Jesus’ apostles spelled it out for me in a letter to the church at Rome: “In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should …..”, letter to the Romans, 8:26 A couple of things I believe worth noticing about this are: 1) Apostle Paul, the author, includes himself. He ...

“What do you have that you did not receive?” Jesus’ apostle asked this of the church at Corinth (1st Corinthians 4:7). Why? The context makes it apparent that some there were presumptuously judging the apostle and arrogantly boasting about it. Do you see the point of the question for them? Do we see the point of the question for us? Like the Corinthians, everything we enjoy today, has come to us a...

Imagine being a Christian in the first century. Maybe you are fortunate enough to be where you can meet and worship with a congregation of the Lord’s people. It would have to be walking distance. Perhaps in Thessalonica, either of the cities called Antioch, or maybe Berea or somewhere in Judea. Wherever you were, the first day of the week would have been just another work day. There would have bee...

I have often heard folks make disparaging remarks about Christianity or Christians or the church. Hypocrisy, self-righteousness and judgmental mentalities are the kinds of things at the top of the non-church-goers’ lists that bug them about “us”. Well duh, “guilty as charged” with regard to any number of such poor behaviors. Why do you think we have come to Jesus??? No one becomes a Christian beca...

#1 I must never forget that because of my sin, I deserve death. But God has not killed me. In fact, he arranged for his son to pay my debt with his own life. I deserve to die, but here I am a free man walking around living life in the world God made, enjoying his blessings and his care. #2 I must never forget the kind of death from which I have been rescued. A continuing death, being separated fro...

Pentecost was one of the three main feasts God instructed the nation of Israel to keep. It was to be held on the fiftieth day after the Passover Sabbath (Leviticus 23:15-16). God instructed that this feast was to take place on the fiftieth day after counting seven Sabbaths from the Passover. Pentecost, as designed therefore, would always fall on a first day of the week. The Pentecost recorded in t...

On the morning of February 8th of this year, a group of students stayed after a chapel service at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. Apparently one of the students began to confide in others regarding sin in his life. There were prayers, then singing, and before long others were returning to this renewed time of worship. This humble circumstance quickly flourished into what came to be known a...

To be relevant, the Bible would have to address today’s issues. Does it do that? You only have to read the first 27 verses of the book to see that gender was divinely designed and separated into only two sexes, male and female, both in the image of Almighty God. Oddly enough, that is a big issue today in the minds of some. So by the above truth, the Bible also addresses what constitutes marriage, ...