Articles by Marty Kessler

Boom! Everything is different now. As shepherds, we used to agonize over cancelling a worship assembly because of icy roads or stormy weather. Who ever imagined the present circumstance? We used to joke about how the back pews always filled up first, and that having to sit near the front was the penalty for coming late. Now we only have every other pew available. Our loved ones go to the hospital,...

Jesus’ apostle Paul wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’” Romans 1:16-17 So just how is God’s righteousness revealed in the gospel? Paul returns to this idea a...

Man’s worst plagues are not of the body, but of the mind and spirit. Anxiety, guilt, fear, pessimism, negativity, hatred, apathy, depression and their cousins torment us beyond any physical malady we may face. These are the very troubles addressed by Jesus, the Great Physician. Do you see how the earth renews itself? It is not by accident that all the mechanisms necessary to produce clean air, fre...

There is only one truly great profession, and that is that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God. It was made by Jesus’ apostle, the one he called “Cephas,” also known as Peter (Matthew 16:16). Whoever walked on water? Peter walked on water. Well, sure, he began to sink after a bit, but there were eleven other guys in the boat who never got out. Peter got out, and he walked on water with ...

Is kindness real? Can you touch kindness? Can you hear it or smell it? You can see an act of kindness, but you’re not really seeing the kindness itself, just an outward expression of an otherwise invisible character trait. What about joy? Is joy real? You may see someone so filled with it that they jump up and down and shout, but those are only behaviors we may exhibit when we are joyful. Is anyth...

There are four references to the God of the Bible in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. They are as follows, with emphasis being mine: 1st paragraph “…the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…" 2nd paragraph “…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…” Last paragraph “…appealing to the Su...

Six times in the 14th chapter of 1st Corinthians, Paul speaks of the church being edified when it assembles. Edification is about people; building up people. As a member of the Lord’s church, I know I have an obligation to God to attend the assemblies of the church to worship him. No one in the universe is more deserving of my devotion and service. Isn’t it interesting though, that when we assembl...

– “The action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue” Virtue signaling is born out of the fear of public opinion. That fear will make you hypocritical and weak. Here are just a few examples. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus called out those who sounded trumpets to get f...

“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse”- John Stuart Mill, British philosopher. Mill’s words tell us that there are some things worth war. Ironically enough, it is actually love in the minds of right-thinking people, compelling them to fight. Do you love your freed...

Jesus told a parable about a widow who incessantly went to a judge for legal protection against an enemy. The judge refused at first, but eventually helped the poor woman just because she wouldn’t quit coming (Luke’s gospel, 18:1-8). Jesus finished the parable with the question, “… when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Faith trusts the reality of what is not yet seen. Lookin...

Jesus said: “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.” He knew what he was talking about, having created the whole process of conception, gestation & birth (see John, 1:1-3; 14), no other man could ever have understood and appreciated...

What will it be? Corona Virus? Heart attack? Brain aneurysm? Stroke? Blood clot? Cancer? Car wreck? Hepatitis C? Lyme Disease? Swine Flu? Bird Flu? Asian Flu? E-coli? Mrsa? Sars Virus? Legionnaires’ Disease? Asbestos poisoning? Lead poisoning? Mercury poisoning? DDT poisoning? Food poisoning? Old age? Dirt on the Clintons? Mad Cow (more than one way for that to happen in rural Oklahoma)? As an ast...

This poem, attributed to John Clifford, has long served as an encouraging word to me. I hope you find it does the same for you. Last eve I paused beside the blacksmith’s door, and heard the anvil ring the vesper chime; Then looking in, I saw upon the floor, old hammers, worn with beating years of time “How many anvils have you had,” said I, “To wear and batter all these hammers so?” “Just one,” sa...

Worldly folks doing worldly stuff, is expected. But when those who name Jesus as their Lord begin listening to the world instead of him, they trouble the church. One trend I will briefly address here, is male leadership in the kingdom. Anyone with the eyes to see it will note that a lion’s share of kingdom work is done by our ladies. God has made sure that their influence and works were recorded i...

For God so loved the world”, is a line Jesus himself spoke and preambles the statement that because of that love God offered his only son to give us eternal life (John’s gospel 3:16). Jesus also said with that, “… whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea...

Consider some of the influences that impact the formative years of your life and how little (?) control you have in each of them: · Your parents (the good, the bad, the ugly) · Your DNA (looks, athleticism, health, height, weight, sex, skin color) · Your siblings (birth order, brothers or sisters, difference in age or lack thereof) · Your extended family (grandparents, aunts & uncles, cousins, in-...

Solomon said we are all crazy. “This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil, and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead. For whoever is joined with the living, there is hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion.” Ecclesiastes 9:3-4 He was talki...

Everyone has a standard by which they gauge right and wrong. Their standard may be as simple as their own opinion, or it could be popular opinion, their parents or some named ideology, but everyone has a standard. When someone tells you not to “impose your religion” on them, they are judging by their standard that it is wrong for you to try to influence their thinking with your own. Imagine, howev...

It is finally 2020. Yes, you made it to the new year! But not everyone made it. We lost a bunch in 2019 (just like every year). Peter Mayhew, the man who brought Chewbacca to life in the Star Wars movies, is gone. Chewie “lives on”, and Peter would be the man to thank for introducing us to him, but thank him we cannot. Eddie Money may have had “Two Tickets to Paradise”, but his life touched down i...

Light is the first thing Genesis records God speaking into existence (Genesis 1:3). He did not need the light, but we do, even to imagine all the rest of his creative acts. Later, he would create what were referred to as “lights” in the heavens; the “greater light” to rule the day, the “lesser light” for the night (1:14-19), and we still need these lights. God’s greatest and most needed light, how...