Church Life
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Is Heaven Real to You?
In the middle of our trip to Pensacola, we paused to attend Bible Study and were blessed to land on the final night of a gospel meeting with Allan Webster. He spoke on reasons we should want to go to heaven. He gave some great points as to why we want to go to heaven, all based on Scriptural truths, but one really hit home with me. From Matthew 8:11, he made the point that we will be with the people of faith described in the pages of the Bible. That verse reads: “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac,…
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Those Careless Words
The Bible, from beginning to end, speaks regularly about the need to control our words. James 3 is a classic text that helps us know how difficult, but also how necessary, it is to control our words. Additionally, many of the Proverbs deal with our words. But Jesus Himself may have given the most direct and potent teaching on the use of our words. After He said, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34), He stated: “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by…
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What about Worship on Vacation?
For two weeks my wife and children are/will be on fall break. During this time we typically take some type of vacation out of town. If you are like us, a part of your plan includes trying to figure out where you are going to worship on Sunday and what you will do for some type of mid-week Bible study. This set of circumstances begs the question, “What are the correct attitudes and practices concerning worship for Christians when they are temporarily away from home?” First of all, we need to educate ourselves on what God’s word reveals about our duties for worship. It should not take much study for…
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Fumbling…on Saturday and Sunday
For as long as I can remember caring anything about college basketball, I have been a Kentucky Wildcat fan. Until fairly recently, I have not followed UK’s football team very closely. To be honest, there really hasn’t been that much to watch. However, over the last few years, the football Wildcats have shown signs that they are improving. As I’ve told some of my friends, we are finally learning to play with that pointed ball in the Bluegrass State. As I type these words, the UK football fans are celebrating a victory. Although the season is very young, the team is undefeated (after only two games). However, as happy as the football…
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If, Then
If this, then that. It is just the natural order of things. If one condition is a fact, then certain other facts should correspond based on their relationship to the truth already stated. This is the process and direction of logical thought. I was thinking about how often we fail in our spiritual walk to follow the linear flow of conditions based on existing realities. This is the human struggle. We claim to believe certain things but what we say and do often disagrees with our claims. So I took it upon myself to examine some places in God’s word where the words “if then” are placed side by side.…
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“How’re You Doin’?” vs. “How Are You Doing?”
As some who read this may know, I had a couple of issues with my health within a relatively short time frame a few years ago. It was during that time that I learned the difference between “How’re you doin’?” and “How are you doing.” After my health was better, Donna and I were steroid-usa privileged to spend a few days at the Freed-Hardeman University Lectureship. It is always a profitable experience for us. The wonderful fellowship we get to enjoy with people of “…like precious faith…” (2 Peter 1:1) is one of the highlights of our year as well. We are looking forward to another highlight in February of next…
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What Makes You a Winner?
Friday night football in small towns is a great event. I remember spending lots of Friday nights watching the Dexter (MO) Bearcats play and enjoying the pre-game and half-time shows by the band. A couple of weeks ago in southeast Missouri, the Jackson Indians played the Cape Central Tigers on Jackson’s home field. The game was really hard on Cape Central and the final score proved it. The final score was 35 – 0. Games like that are hard to take. You practice (in a lot of heat, I might add) and you travel to the town of the opposing team. Your hopes are high. The stands are full of fans. The cheerleaders are leading cheers…
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A Christian View of the Environment
As Christians, our faith guides everything we do. Every thought, action, interaction, motive, and belief is to be driven by Scripture. We simply are not to segment our life into a Christian side and a secular side. But we are living in times where it seems that everything has to be viewed in extremes. You’re either on “this” side or “that” side, and it seems that we cannot even try to find middle ground. While that is not always the case, it seems to come across that way more and more. And that is true when it comes to how a Christian views the environment. Too many in our culture…
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Effective Communication
Many years ago when I was in college (ouch, that hurts to say), I took a class on “Marriage and the Family.” I still have all the notes from the class and just recently I was dipping back into my folder for the sake of reviewing God’s allowances of divorce in the Old Testament. This, of course, would have been in regard to the question the Jews posed to Jesus about divorce in Matthew 19. Well, sometimes the search for something specific leads to the discovery of something else for which you were not looking. Instead of reviewing God’s thoughts about divorce I ended up pouring over some notes I…
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“Enjoyable for Him”
What I know about the NBA could possibly fill up a thimble. How much I care about the NBA would take up even less space. That may help to explain why I’m not too sure of the particulars of a conversation I remember hearing a few years ago. Some pundits were talking about what I assumed was yet another disgruntled NBA player. He wasn’t getting the playing time he thought he deserved – or – he wasn’t being used like he thought he should be – or – the “chemistry” on the team wasn’t right – or – the team wasn’t performing as had been hoped – or -… You get the picture. …
