At the recent Freed-Hardeman University lectures, a question was raised in the Open Forum that did not get much discussion. It is one that is close to my heart, because I love singing praises to God, so I thought I would expand on it a little bit. I don’t remember the exact wording of the question, but it was basically asking what we should do with songs in church hymn books that are unscriptural. Dr. Ralph Gilmore, moderator of the forum, made a good observation about how nearly every song we sing is poetry; thus, we need to give a little grace. After all, much poetry is symbolic and the…

What do you wear to worship? Does it matter? Does God care? I recently conducted two separate funerals for two men I greatly admire. There are many things these men have in common. They both lived past their 90th year. They were both very faithful Christians. They both came to worship every time the doors were open. They both were great Christian patriarchs. And finally, they both always wore a suit and tie. We live in a culture that hates tradition, especially if it is a tradition tied to anything having to do with the church. The new generation is so bent against tradition that now even musical instruments, the…

“He stimulated their thinking and caused them to re-examine their previously held positions.” To hear and read the thoughts of some people today, you would think that this must be the wording of Matthew 7:29. At least, that’s what some people of our day believe good teaching and preaching to be. A preacher or teacher who lovingly and kindly, but without reservation, speaks of God’s commandments is almost an embarrassment to those who wear the name “Christian.” Words have crept into our vocabulary that chip away at the authority of the Bible. We hear a lot today about “concepts” instead of commands. The Bible is said to “indicate” or “suggest” certain things to us. It…

[NOTE: Adam was asked to speak on the 2015 Freed-Hardeman University Bible lectures on the person of Nathan. Below if the manuscript of his lesson.] It is a Biblical account that most of us can recite detail-by-detail. It is shocking to us for many reasons. It shocks us because of who is involved. David, the one so often described as a man after God’s own heart, we know was just a man and therefore, had sin in his life, but the infamous incident in 2 Samuel 11 shocks us. The account shocks us because it just continues to spiral out of control. We can find ourselves saying, “Just stop it here!”…

When I lead singing, I try to avoid burying my head in the song book. As I lead, I attempt to look around the room and sing most of the words from memory, only glancing down as I need to. It’s a good idea, until you blank on the words, or realize too late that you missed something. Recently, I was leading the great old hymn “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks.” Thankfully, I don’t think anyone caught what I actually said, because it was close enough to the actual lyric that it probably sounded right. What the song really says is, “On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful…

I am above all people most blessed. I would not trade my life with any other person, no matter the circumstances. Having been raised in a Christian home in America by parents and grandparents who have been faithful to the Lord for years, I truly feel like I have been given the greatest opportunity for spiritual success of anyone I know. I still have all my grandparents. They are all in their mid-80’s now, but outside of an irregular hindrance they are still able to attend the assembly three times a week. They have been a part of the greatest generation in our history. Their parents and grandparents helped to…

We had enjoyed having our family spend the holidays with us. Our children and grandchildren had left earlier that day for their homes. Neither one of us were feeling well, so the job of putting clean sheets on the beds they had slept in would be left for another day… …or so we thought. All of that changed at about 9:45 p.m. with one phone call. The call was from out of state. A family was going through a real crisis. I am not exaggerating when I say that it could easily have been a life or death type of crisis.  The caller informed us that one of the members of the family was…