Articles

I am thinking this morning of all those who go unnoticed in their faithful service to God — at least unnoticed by other people. So, here’s a nod of appreciation… …to all of the husbands and wives who work hard at their marriage and honor their vows, even when it’s difficult.…to all of the parents who sacrifice their time, energy, and sanity to not merely feed, clothe, and house their kids, but who are teaching them to love and serve the Lord. …to those same parents who make hard decisions regarding priorities, standards, and morals in spite of the conflict […]

In spite of the fact that the New Testament Scriptures are simple and easy to understand on the teaching of baptism, there continues to be disagreement and controversy over the subject of baptism. I hope that by this simple examination of what the passages teach that we will be able to point out what they reveal about baptism. Many make the assumption of what baptism is and what it isn’t. Let us make a honest attempt to clarify that in this article. Baptism is for taught believers, not the untaught. Matt 28:18-19; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 8:35-37. What precedes baptism in […]

Many of us are familiar with the story of King Darius being tricked into signing a decree into law that stated that anyone who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, shall be cast into the lions’ den. (Dan 6:7) If we were to believe the reports of many, they would have you to believe that we are near the end of the earth here in America. Dare I mention the constant propaganda of constant “doom and gloom” about America embracing socialism, communism, fascism, or whatever “isms” you want to consider?! Am […]

On July 6th, 2012, the “Presbyterian general assembly” took a vote on how to define marriage. The vote would decide if marriage was between one man and one woman or between two people. Depending on your sources, you may find the numbers differing but most of the sources I have found showed that the vote was 338 to 308 in favor of keeping the definition of marriage between one man and one woman. On June 19th, 2014, the “Presbyterian general assembly” took a vote on how to define marriage again. Is marriage to be between one man and one woman […]

Sin takes one farther than he wants to go, keeps him longer than he wants to stay, and costs him more than he wants to pay. Everyone does not agree with this statement. In life, you have people who are “bound and determined” to go against the grain. It does not matter how much truth you present in front of them, if they do not like it, they will simply redefine whatever it is you are talking about. I can think of several examples. I will be brief with these three examples. The first two being Biblical examples, and the […]

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 […]