Articles

James 1:2-4 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (NASB) It is hard to grasp the concept of “consider it all joy when you encounter various trials.” To be perfectly honest, I do not know anyone who cheers to the idea of undergoing persecution. The word translated “trials” signifies affliction, persecution, or trial of any kind. Another thing to note is that James said “when”, not “if”. Other renderings […]

1 John 5:11-13 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. There are many in the world today who live in a state of doubt and fear. This is not only true for those of the world, but even some […]

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. The phrases “covers a multitude of sins”, “covered all their sin”, “sin is covered” is used several times in scripture. We always attempt to do our best to understand the words within the context in order to properly understand what is being taught. As we all know, words have meaning. With that in mind, it is easy for someone to get the wrong idea when it comes to this idea of “covering a multitude of sins.” Is God trying to […]

One cannot put a price tag upon the value of faith. Our souls literally depend upon our faith. The Hebrew writer tells us in Hebrews 11:6 that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” We will not make it to Heaven without faith. We will not make it to Heaven or be pleasing to God with just a “little faith.” We need to have a biblical faith, a saving faith. That is a faith worth having. I cannot give it a true value but if I were to estimate it, I would say without hesitation, our lives. Christ gave […]

Refuge – a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble. Not all places of refuge are equal. Several years ago, as the political climate hit an all-time high, I recall there being a call for “safe zones” to be established on almost every college and high school campus for students who were “suffering” from “PTSD” and other similar issues due to some of the things going on within the country. Many were being told that this country was going to crumble, their rights were going to be revoked, and that anyone who dared to stand up […]

John 5:25 Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. This can be a difficult statement for some. There is no doubt in my mind that when you talk with people about the “dead”, they typically think of a person who physically died. Whether that death was due to an illness, an accident, or murder; death is not something that many tend to celebrate. For Christians, we should not have such a shallow view of death. That […]

Habakkuk 3:16-19 I heard and my inward parts trembled, At the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the people to arise who will invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will […]

It was December 4th, 2022, shortly after our morning worship assembly, we loaded up in our vehicle to drive to the Highway 65 church of Christ in Conway for their annual congregational singing with brother Tim Stevens. It was announced that there were approximately 250 people in attendance that afternoon. During the singing, brothers Tim Stevens and Todd Dennis would take turns during the services of leading songs. During the invitation, Tim told the story of what all has been happening with his family over the past year. In short, his wife had been very sick. He told of a […]

2 Corinthians 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you – unless indeed you fail the test? Anyone who knows me will know that when I put something together, I had better test whatever it is before debuting it. An easy one to think about is when I put together my PowerPoint slides for my lessons. For the most part, I try to keep them simple with big, bold lettering. Anytime I decide that I want to “fancy” them up, I […]

Whenever my two older boys come to me to ask me about doing something, I usually make them think about how they ask the question before I give them an answer. For example, sometimes they will ask “Can we have a dessert? or Can we go outside?” When those questions are asked in that particular way, I typically respond accordingly, “I don’t know, can you?” Obviously they can go outside, but that is not how they should ask the question. “May we have dessert?” or “May we go outside?”. They typically catch themselves before finishing the question to reword the […]

“Get out while you still can!”, “Get out while the getting is good!”, “Quit while you are ahead!” We all understand exactly what people are trying to say when these phrases are used. To break them down even more, I tend of think of…”Leave while it is still possible!”, “Leave while you can and have the chance to!”, “Stop doing that because the risk is not worth the reward – something bad will happen!”. There are numerous examples that we can come up with in order to establish a baseline for ourselves. This is not an exhaustive list, but I […]

John 15:18-21 NASB If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My […]

Genesis 5:22-24 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. I have heard some outlandish things said by others regarding Enoch. There is no doubt that some of you have probably encountered something similar. The purpose of this article has nothing to do with trying to settle any controversy that may be had over Enoch in how he was taken by God. […]

Most who read this bulletin can easily recall the times when they witnessed (and/or) experienced getting in trouble by a stranger or someone else who was not their mother or father. Believe it or not, I too, fall into that category. Those days are long gone. Discipline in schools is a joke, other people will interject themselves into other people’s affairs when trying to discipline their children, others refusing to acknowledge or accept that a wrong has occurred, etc. I could easily fill up this bulletin with just different examples of things that reference the idea of having the attitude […]

Our commitment to God should be rooted and grounded in the fact that God loves us. God has done all things necessary and sufficient in order to maintain a relationship with his creation. As his creation, we have no right to withhold our loyalty and commitment from God due to a set of particular circumstances. We often excuse ourselves due to adverse conditions. “If only my boss did not micromanage me, I would be more inclined to work harder.” 1 Peter 2:18-19 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, […]

I remember different times in my childhood when I would hear certain words being used in a particular tone, and it was during those specific times that I knew that something “negative” was being said. Even if I didn’t know at the time what those words meant. You ever walk into a room full of people, but it is quiet. It is so quiet in the room that you say something along the lines of “I could just cut the tension in the air with a knife”? That type of feeling that even though you are not too sure what […]