Articles by Titus West

It’s 6:30-7am. You open your eyes after getting a great night’s sleep and see the dawn light coming through the blinds. After stretching, you roll over and put your feet on the floor, and you go to make your coffee. As your coffee brews, you look around your home and it’s peaceful. The kids are still sleeping, it’s clean and tidy which invites you to enjoy it. You pour your cup of coffee and step ...

This month our congregation has been focusing on prayer. There has been something selected each day this month to be in prayer about. This Sunday, our focus of prayer is on new Christians. In the last year we have baptized several into Christ from young to old. No matter where one is in their stage of life, if they are capable of understanding, one who believes and wants to follow Christ is baptiz...

Mother’s Day. A day when mother’s all over America are celebrated by their children and spouses. Today, I’d like to concentrate on a sub-group of mothers that have neither spouses nor children, the lonely mothers. The mothers that have outlived their family or been abandoned by them. Mothers who have lost children before they had a chance to live their lives. I’d argue that these mothers are the s...

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, th...

Wednesday, April 6th, 2022, it was reported that the Chicago Zoo placed a special bar along its gorilla cages to keep visitors further from the windows. This is to prevent the visitors from showing their phone screens to the gorillas inside. The zookeepers did this because they noticed the 3 “teenage” gorillas were showing signs of anti-socialism and extreme distractedness. One gorilla was distrac...

I’ve heard the Bible verse about God and time mentioned loosely a few times lately. At least enough in our class discussions to have it on my mind. 2 Peter 3:8, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” This is an interesting description, but what does it mean? For that we need context; let’s continue read...

There is an old saying, “Be careful who you trust, the devil was once an angel.” This saying comes from the interpretation by some scholars that Satan was once an angel or cherub in the Garden of Eden-Ezekiel 28:1-19. Although this is an interesting subject, I’d like to focus on the meaning of the saying rather than the theology of that passage. This saying carries a heavy weight with it. If an an...

There are at least 46 verses in the bible that contain the word “zeal.” The definition of zeal is: a strong feeling of interest and enthusiasm that makes someone very eager or determined to do something. This word is often used to describe people in the church as well as local churches themselves. One would think that a word like zeal would always be a good thing for the Christian, but that isn’t ...

One of the most common things I hear in our society about God is that he can help us achieve anything including the impossible. This claim is not unfounded as angels, Jesus, and even God himself make this claim throughout the Bible. Focusing on just one instance in Mark 9:14-29, a man asks Jesus to release his son from the bonds of an unclean spirit that had taken over the boy’s body. The man goes...

It’s that time of year when the scene all around us changes. Leaves have changed into beautiful colors and fallen off the trees. It’s chilly in the mornings turning into the perfect 72 degrees by mid-day. The days have gotten shorter leaving us with more time to look up at the stars. It’s hard for a Christian to come into the Fall season and not be in awe of the creation in which we live. I often ...

Recently, I had an encounter with about 10-12 of our teenagers. They had been asked a simple question, “If someone asked you what you believed in, how would you answer?” After several minutes of silence, it was clear they did not know how to respond. At another activity they were asked, “Who said, ‘I am not my brother’s keeper?’” and again, no response. Now, I’ve been in and taught the younger cla...

Delusion is the belief or altered reality that is persistently held despite evidence or agreement to the contrary, generally in reference to a mental disorder. Self-delusion is the act of deluding oneself on purpose. Someone who retreats into a false reality to escape the one around them. In our society, self-delusion is an accepted way of life. We spend our time obsessed with tv shows, video game...

This morning’s lesson will be over our spiritual gifts. To help us apply what we will learn and to prepare us for the week, I would like to share with you what I believe is the most important aspect of the gifts that we have Christians. That is the nature by which we come to use our gifts. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pag...

As you may know, the Choctaw Church of Christ has been studying and learning about evangelism this quarter. Part of learning is putting into practice the things that one has learned. After almost 2 months of being taught by our Shepherds about evangelism, another opportunity to put into practice, the sharing of Jesus with our community, has arrived by the simple act of offering people a bottle of ...

In April of 2016, my wife and I discovered we were going to become parents. When I learned this, being the best possible father was the only thing that really mattered to me. I wanted, and still want, to provide the best possible life I could for my child to come. I had no idea where to begin, but now I have been a father for four years and this Father’s Day, I would like to share with you two thi...

This coming weekend is Easter Sunday. The day known around America as the day we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. His resurrection was predicted in the Old Testament and came to fruition in the New and this is the day our country has set aside to celebrate the plan God put together at the very beginning of time so that we may have a hope of being in Heaven with Him. So, as people all o...

Today is Valentine’s Day! A day set aside in our society for showing love to our significant other. Now, I have no vendetta against the holiday, but have you’ve noticed that “love” is marketed to us in the forms of jewelry, flowers, candies, and stuffed animals. That is what I have seen my entire life, so I think it’s safe to say that society sees “love” as tangible. Something that you give in the...

Evil has shown itself and is waging a war against Christianity and the Gospel of Christ. This morning I saw a video of a man getting knocked out. It seems he was trying to protect others. Afterward, he had his head stomped on multiple times and then his phone was stolen from him as he lay there helpless. During the same incident, a person was stabbed and another 13 people were arrested. Yesterday,...

This last week, Central Oklahoma experienced a natural disaster. Do you ever wonder why natural disasters occur on earth? I mean, other than reasons science tells us about like soil erosion, seismic activity, tectonic movements, air pressure, and ocean currents; why do they happen? It may seem that, during these times, it’s easy to ask, “Where was God?” We can be assured that God does use natural ...

I am constantly examining myself. Something I have discovered is that I struggle with procrastination. It is very easy for me to let life take over and procrastinate. Not in just my priorities, but in my everyday relationships as well. Whether it be neglecting text messages and emails for days, putting off a school paper one more time or letting my yard get out of hand; procrastination is a consta...