Invitation songs are sometimes sung a bit mindlessly. After all, most congregations only know about a dozen well-enough to sing well, so those few songs get sung over and over again. As a result, our minds are often barely engaged, even though we know they should be. However, in those songs there are some profound thoughts. One of the most profound–though it is written in very simple language-is found in the hymn “What Shall It Be?” Throughout that song, various forms of the question, “What will your answer be?” are asked. But if our minds are not engaged as we sing, we may miss the fact that the question is…

I don’t know if any of you are as blessed as we are in our congregation to have so many “jewels” sitting among us at worship gatherings and other activities. I have an idea that you are. Those “jewels” are still full of life and knowledge. They represent generations of life, and many have lived through difficulties that can’t even be imagined by young people today. They have life skills that have been learned by living life and learning the hard way those skills needed to provide for their families. Some of those “jewels” have a knowledge of the Bible that far exceeds their Bible class learning as a child.…

More than once in the New Testament, the Christian life is compared to a race. Countless sermons have been preached using that illustration, reminding people of faith to run their race and to make certain that they cross the finish line. However, one thing that must also be emphasized is that we have to run the proper race. A runner recently learned that the hard way. For a few moments not long ago, it seemed that Usain Bolt’s world record in the 200-meter dash had not only been broken, but shattered. The record has stood since 2009, when Bolt ran that distance in a jaw-dropping 19.19 seconds. Recently, though, a…

While I think everyone who reads these posts would agree that the Bible is inspired and contains truth, If not, you don’t know the authors well because we certainly all believe this! However, I wonder if, in that belief, you will allow me to make what seems like a criticism. The Bible contains truths that may not fully state that truth. Consider just two examples with me:  First, in Genesis 1 we read the account of creation. In particular, notice the verses that detail God’s creation of the sun, moon, and stars. There is actually some detail added about the sun and moon, mentioning that one will rule the day…

Hopefully, the admonition given to some preachers will hold true as I type these words. When commenting on the length of sermons, sometimes they/we are told, “A sermon does not have to be eternal to be immortal.” The “meat” of this post is actually one sentence. A friend of mine who is also an excellent Bible student and teacher has said it many times.  After you read the sentence, I challenge you to think of one exception to the “rule”stated in it. I think that you will have a very difficult time finding one. In fact, I think that you will find that it applies to every facet of our…

There have been nineteen presidential inaugurations during my lifetime. Of course, some of those were for second terms of sitting presidents, but that is still a lot of them. I was only about four months old when it happened for the first time in my lifetime, so I don’t remember anything about it. The same goes for the second time when I was only a little over four years old.   It really wasn’t until I was a little over twelve years old that I sort of got “plugged in” to what was happening. I was intrigued with all of the pageantry that went along with a presidential inauguration ceremony.   While…