Articles

You see it often in the gospels; Jesus reaching out with his hand to touch people. He touched Peter’s wife’s mother on the hand and took away her fever (Matthew 8:14-15). He touched the eyes of two blind men and gave them sight (Matthew 9:27-31). He touched the ears and the tongue of a deaf mute and gave him hear-ing and speech (Mark 7:31-35). He even touched a leper to make him clean ...

I find it interesting that there are no specified instructions for how to hold a funeral service in scripture. There isn’t anything teaching us that we must have one, nor even any direct instructions as to what to do with the body. Yet God teaches us that there is something very special about death, especially the deaths of those who die having been faithful to Him: Precious in the sight of ...

God challenged Jeremiah about 2,600 years ago: “Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and look now and take note. And seek in her open squares, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her” Jeremiah 5:1 Jerusalem was doomed because her people had abandoned God. His justice, having been building ever since Israel’s de...

To brethren, living in corrupt Corinth, Paul closes his first letter to them: “Watch ye; Stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong” (I Cor. 16:13 AS). William D. Poe stated: “The most important thing in the world that makes young people civilized is good old people.“¹ J. Edgar Hoover adds: “The bulwark of religious training is vital if the line is to ...

If you look around when you are outdoors, with the exception of a few rare places on the planet, what you’ll see is an amazing array of plant life. Trees of every description decorate the landscape from the umbrella shaped Parana pine to the fern-like cypress and the cartoonish baobab. There are also grasses, carpeting the ground with color, texture and beauty. Shrubs and bushes abound that ...

As I write this note, the TV in my office is presenting a program on “Electric Fish”, in particular, electric eels. As I watch and listen I cannot ignore the evidence of our God’s majesty. How can anyone see creatures like these, and deny a supreme and tremendous creator? Even the word “creature” come from the same root as “create”. They are not “evo...

God created both Adam and Eve in His image. Each of them had a divine purpose. Adam was created first according to Genesis 2:1-18 noting for us that it was not good for the man to be alone. God then made woman from the man to be his wife, but more specifically, to be his helper according to 2:19- 24. Because of the weakness of our fleshly minds, we humans tend to make this relationship competitive...

Did you ever wonder why our paths have crossed? Did our paths cross by chance or was there a purpose? Will our paths cross again? As we look at these situations let us consider why our paths may have crossed. I remember 30 years ago, though it only seem like yesterday, that I met a young man, a very likeable man who was easy to be around, easy to talk to. He had a great out look on life, one of ha...

For Ten Years you have found here, Marty’s articles that could much endear; But this week, both his and your eyes, Will find in writing a fitting surprise! His article this week just does not suit, To give to Himself an appropriate tribute, For ten years of special dedicated deeds, That were designed to meet congregational needs! Oh, he has blest more than the congregation, With his timely t...

Time and again I’ve heard the expression, “You can’t legislate morality” and wondered whether those touting this line have thought through what they were saying. We do not “legislate” morality, but we must legislate behavior. Anyone in authority over others not only has the right, but the obligation to do so. From national governments all the way down to our own...

There is a fifth reason I want to identify in this continuation of last week’s article. That reason is that the rest of Jesus’ New Testament after the gospels shows us that His apostles carefully and specifically followed the pattern of work He laid out for them. In Acts chapter two we see Peter preaching Jesus to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. He tells th...

John the apostle writes in the first chapter of his gospel that those who receive Jesus, defined as those who believe in Him, are given the right to become children of God, John 1:12. He does not tell us here at what point believers actually become children of God, perhaps because he is saving that for Jesus Himself to introduce in chapter three. In chapter three, a man by the name of Nicodemus co...

Mark records at least nine different times in his gospel when Jesus forewarned His disciples that He would be arrested, abused, crucified and resurrected (8:31-33, 9:9-12, 30-32, 10:32-34, 45, 12:1- 11, 14:3-8, 22-25 & 26-28). Matthew tells us that even as Jesus was being arrested He told those present at least twice that what was happening was in order to fulfill what the prophets had said (2...

I remember being a part of a group of students that visited a denominational church many years ago as part of a school assignment. We were to learn as much as we could about them from one of their leaders. While taking a guided tour of their place of worship, we noticed that they had a communion table much like the ones with which we were familiar in the church. One difference, however, was that t...

Our best opportunity for reaching out with the gospel of Jesus happens every time we assemble. There is almost always someone here from the community and they are paying us a great compliment when they come among us. In the world, people we don’t know are strangers to us. But this must not be true when we get together as the Lord’s people. I am convinced that out heavenly Father doesn&...

In 2 Chronicles 14:2, we read that Asa did good and right in the sight of the LORD his God. When he became king, he instituted several reforms to remove foreign gods and foreign religious practices from the land, even removing his mother from being the queen mother because of her idolatrous practices. During his reign, Zerah the Ethiopian came out against Judah/Benjamin with an army of a million m...

The Bible says so: There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God’ all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness&helli...

In Eph 5:18-19 is said “and be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Col 3:16 What can we learn here? 1. Songs Teach 2. Songs Edify 3. Songs Encourage In Deuteronomy 31:19 God told Moses to write a song. We note that songs teach us of Go...

Years ago I owned an old pickup truck. The worm gear in the steering box was so worn that when driving, you had to continually steer from left to right just to drive in a straight line. It drove all right, you just had to stay on top of it and make continual corrections. The brakes worked ok too, as long as you pumped them up a cou-ple of times before you really needed them. Otherwise, you might e...

Consider this past Friday. On the other side of the world, a huge and devastating earthquake hit Japan and was soon followed by an even more disastrous tsunami. We still don’t know how many have been killed. The damage to the Japanese economy, infrastructure and the everyday workings of life are inestimable. While such an incomprehensible tragedy was taking place there, here at home in Oklah...