Church Blog (Page 21)

I am so fortunate to serve the 70 West family, working under the oversight of our five godly elders and having the blessing to work alongside a true joy, Billy Hayes. 70 West has given me the opportunity to bless many here in Garland County and now, through our online ministry, folks around the world. I find great satisfaction when I can help people and bring them closer to God but occasionally, I fail. One of those failures happened almost…

It is THAT time of the year again. You know, the time we each look at ourselves and say “I need to be doing more of_____ .” Whether our New Year’s resolution is weight loss, stopping a bad habit or just generally trying to live longer—we all have them. We may not tell a soul about them or we may ask everyone to hold us accountable for our actions, but we all have a New Year’s resolution. As a general…

I have adopted a personal theme for the year 2021 and you might want to do so too. My theme is ‘Make God number 1 in 2021’”. I’m redirecting my focus on how I live my life… how I make my personal decisions… how I interact with family and friends… how I organize my daily activities… and how I prioritize each day. I’m doing all of this under the umbrella of ‘Make God number 1 in 2021’. I want to…

While standing on the field of Yankee Stadium, Lou Gehrig, the Yankee’s first baseman, made the following statement: “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” To somewhat borrow the famous ballplayer’s words, today, I consider myself the most blessed man on the face of the earth.” I am blessed to be a child of God. My Lord has always been there for me, both in good times and difficult times. All I have and…

In 1st Corinthians 15, Paul wrote a chapter by the inspiration of God, in order to teach us about the truth of the relevance of the Gospel. The Gospel is God’s saving power for man-Romans 1:16. God could have chosen any plan to save man, and He chose to save man by the Gospel. Take an opportunity to read 1st Corinthians 15 and search for these four points. I. If the Christ is still in the grave, then Paul is…

Two weeks ago, while waiting for a late-night appointment to arrive for counseling, I did something that I seldom get to do. Usually, I try to be productive while waiting for a couple to make their appointment by working on a class outline, studying, or perhaps doing paperwork. That night I was feeling somewhat burnout, so I decided to waste a few minutes by skimming over social media. I keep a watch out outlook on the church’s social media and…

Study 1st Peter 2:9-10. Really dissect those verses. Tear apart those words and hear what God is saying to you. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”…

In the field of marriage counseling the gold star tool used by more counselors to help couples preparing for marriage; plus married couples wishing to improve their marriage is: PREPARE/ENRICH. PREPARE/ENRICH measures a couples maturity in the 15 major building blocks of a great marriage. Building blocks such as marriage communication, financial management, faith, how to deal with the in-laws, and problem solving. I have used PREPARE/ENRICH with my couples for over 30 years and have found it to be…

So many folks look at the cross of Jesus and focus in on certain things. I guess we all may be guilty of this perspective. One of the more dangerous focuses is any man who will focus on everything except that middle cross where the body of the Son of God was hanging. Some look at the cross of a criminal and say “I want to be saved like the thief on the cross”. Let’s take some time and notice…

The game show Jeopardy is one of the few TV shows I watch. I’m always amazed at the knowledge of the contestants in every area other than the Bible. Stories I have known since my childhood stump most of the participants. The struggle demonstrated by these contestants reflects the overall drop in Bible knowledge in the last 50-years, but it doesn’t have to be. GIVE ME 5! Give me just a little time from your personal schedule and watch the…

In 1985, the Country and Western artist George Jones released a song entitled, “Who’s Gonna Fill their Shoes”. The underlying theme of this song, as far as I know, is who will be the next Country and Western stars. I would like to use this idea as a spring board for this article. Let’s explore who’s gonna fill their shoes- spiritually. Recently, we have laid to rest some good Soldiers of the Cross. We have had a tough few weeks.…

Very often, we as people, think of life in the aspect of time. We think of minutes, hours, days, and years. As Job would write in Job 14:1, “man is of few days…”. David wrote that a man’s life will be about “three score and ten”. Then James, the half brother of Jesus, wrote that “life is a vapor” (James 4:14). There is no shock to us to find out we have a difficult time with the comprehension of Eternity.…