Articles

Every precious, innocent child deserves a good childhood.  This includes you.  You should have been born to two loving, caring parents who worked together to make a happy home.  If you did not have that advantage, you got cheated, and that’s not fair. It is not fair if you were born into dysfunctional circumstances.  It was not your fault if your parents divorced, or ...

A recurring theme in all “Preacher Jokes” is the idea that they exaggerate the numbers that attend services. I know one minister of a 250 member church who routinely answers the common question, “How big is your congregation?”, with the answer, “Somewhere under 3,000 members…” Some may dismiss this interest in numbers as irrelevant when it comes to spiritual matters but a quick look at the record ...

#1  Pray for your child and their future spouse  - use the passion you have for them as James says that the prayer of a righteous man does much good (5:16). Remember that they are God’s children too, and He wants to be a major player in their upbringing.  Invite Him often and passionately.  Cast all of your (parenting) cares on Him, because He cares for you,...

I am always surprised when I obtain an epiphany (“an experience of sudden and striking realization”). I know it is a loose translation of my experience, but I was totally overtaken with another conformation of the magnificence of our God… a bird’s singing.  I grew up believing that most birds, maybe except for owls, slept during the nighttime hours only to awaken just before dawn to great the...

Joseph Randle is a running back at Oklahoma State, who has been listed as a likely pick  for national honors at the end of this football season. While he is obviously skilled as a football player, in The Oklahoman (“Cowboys brighten some children’s day,” July 19, 2012, p.3C) about a visit by some members of the OSU football team to St. Francis Children’s Hospital. Myles Metcalf...

Lawrence Krauss recently wrote, “Humans, with their remarkable brains may have just taken a giant step toward replacing metaphysical speculation with empirically verifiable knowledge. The Higgs particle is now arguably more relevant than God” [1]. In other words, a recent discovery takes humans one step closer to showing  “no God required” in the cr...

The recent trend in education and politics to remove any mention of God or the Bi-ble is really a subtle attack on individual rights and freedoms. Eliminating faith from public life weakens the nation’s understanding that man’s individual rights and free-doms are created and given by God, not the “State”. I believe that the endgame of removing the Bible from education and politics is to return us ...

George Gritter was scripturally sound when he observed (and passages are given to verify that fact):    God is holy; He hates sin; (I Pet. 1:15f; Prov. 6:12-19) God is just; He condemns sin; (Deut. 32:4; Prov. 12:2) God is sovereign; He punishes sin; (I Chron. 29:11f; Isaiah 13:11) God is gracious; He forgives sin!”¹ (Tit. 2:11-14; Lk. 24:44-47; Rom.5:6-11)   What a verification of ...

I have a problem with www.  Not the Internet www, (world wide web), but rather with “Wait”, “Want”, and “Why”. Let me explain… I have a “wait” problem.  I am impatient.  I don’t always want to wait on anything or anyone. This causes me a difficult situation when I appeal to God for something and He says, “w...

Watching people die is always a growth experience. I don’t say this lightly because the trauma for family and friends is real and painful. But if you’re in the medical profession or serve as a hospice worker or minister, the constant passing of people from this life to the next occurs repeatedly in your everyday work and serves more to teach than frighten or depress. It seems the more I help peopl...

Solomon has written in the Psalms (127:3-5) that children are a gift of the Lord.  They are gifts, however, that come as do-it-yourself kits.   It takes a child to make a father.  Yes, I know we usually think of it the other way around, but it is true.  It is true biologically, and it is especially true relationally.  A man is not truly a father unless he be...

God looks on the heart.  No one can see our hearts but Him.  Regardless of the strength of my faith, it does no one any good whatsoever if all I do is “have” it.     So God has sent His Son to teach us, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father Who is in heaven”, Matthew 5:16.   People ca...

Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came to see him and the Israelites after they had been delivered from Egypt (Exodus 18:1-27).  Seeing Moses serve as a judge over all of the issues that arose among the people from morning until evening, he counseled him to make a change.   Jethro told Moses to choose able men who feared God, were honest and who hated dishonest gain. &nb...

1. If not for a serpent, their lives could have been much easier. Genesis 3:1-24   2. They both laughted about having a child. Genesis 17:17 & 18:12   3. She rode into his life on a camel. Genesis 24:64   4. He loved her enough to work fourteen years to marry her. Genesis 29:15-30   5. God used their son to part the Red Sea and do many other miraculous things. Exodus 6...

One of the saddest, most tragic events recorded in scripture is the death of Uriah the Hittite due to David’s attempt to cover his own sin.  The account is given in 2nd Samuel chapter eleven. Below are seven observations about Uriah based on Samuel’s account.  I believe every member of God’s kingdom would do well to emulate him.   1. Though he was a foreigner ...

You may notice if you read the Revelation that there are at least five seeming counterfeits to God’s originals.   First there is the figure of God’s servants pictured as being “sealed on their foreheads”, 7:3.  Contrast this holy sealing with the “mark of the beast” on those who worship the  beast that rises up from the earth, 13:16. &nb...

1. Be sexually pure because it is right.  God even used the image of sexual purity to express righteousness in Revelation 14:1-5.  Genesis 1:26-31 and 2:18-25 make it clear that marriage is a pure relationship (so do many other Biblical passages).  Defilement comes from sexual relationships outside of marriage.   2. Be sexually pure to maintain your dignity and s...

In several weeks we will be celebrating the graduation of our high school & college seniors. As a congregation we are proud of their achievement and share their joy in reaching this important milestone.As in every success story, there are usually many individuals who have contributed to the final outcome and graduation is no exception. One person that probably figures most in these young persons’ ...

A wise patriot in our land stated: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Knowing the eternal consequences, no Christian dares to fail! Brother or Sister, how prepared are you to respond to Peter’s challenge to be “ready to answer every man that asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you” (I Pet. 3:15)? If you ARE NOT READY, serio...

In an environment where sin rules, anyone who attempts to introduce God’s teachings will almost instantly be vilified.  This is how the world responded to Jesus.  If we do  things His way today, we should expect the same.   Isaiah said there were those who in his day called evil good and good evil.  They substituted darkness for light and light for darkness, bit...