Article (Page 13)

When life gives you lemons, then make lemonade. The current situation has certainly dealt us a serious lemon with this coronavirus, but we can all work together to make things better. We are now offering TWO daily Facebook Live Bible studies, ‘MANNA IN THE MORNING’ at 7 am daily for a 15-minute kickoff in the morning and ‘A MESSAGE OF HOPE’ at 7 pm daily for a 30-minute study. Please join Billy and me in these studies but do more…

Psalm 25:1-3 states, “(A Psalm of David)- Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.” It is a fact that you and I have been singing this portion of the 25th Psalm for many years. It is a great source of encouragement.…

We are living today in a very different world. The ‘coronavirus scare’ has impacted all of us. Nothing like this has happen in our country since the days of the 1918 influenza panic. I remember my grandmother (the only grandparent I had still alive when I was born – my mother’s mother) telling me stories about the influenza panic of 1918. She was born in 1876 so she was a mom with both adult children and small children at home…

The message may be brief but that doesn’t mean the message can be overlooked. With the cross looming just hours away, Jesus says, in a few words, a powerful message for all His followers, both the ones surrounding Him at that moment and followers today. In John 14:15 Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” ESV “IF”-It’s a conditional statement. Either you love Him, or you do not love Him. There is no middle ground. It’s…

In some ways, Susan is a Christian due to something Judy did. The funny thing about that statement is the fact that Judy and Susan did not know each other until AFTER Susan became a Christian. Here’s what happen almost 20 years ago. Judy was scheduled to have surgery and keeping my normal procedure back then as it is still now, I was at the hospital waiting for her to arrive on the day of her surgery. I have always…

Earlier this month it happened again. A death took place in northeast Arkansas in a family I know well. I am not talking about the death directly but instead, the reaction to her death. I noticed on Facebook many people expressing their condolences, with several of those expressions being written by my brothers and sisters in the faith. They wrote, “She’s now in heaven looking down on all of us …She’s celebrating a grand reunion in heaven…She’s gained her victory!”…

I saw the headline and I couldn’t believe what I was reading. The article popped up in my blog reading app, Feedly. The app pulls articles from blogs I follow such as blogs written by fellow preachers, Christian ministries, congregations, religious news sites and a few blogs focusing in on my favorite sports team. The article I am referring to was about a church telling older members to stay away from the worship services. Probably 70% of the blogs appearing…

A few years ago, a local politician began to hold the Ten Commandments up as if to say he was fighting for God. It was, in reality, just grandstand-ing. God’s Word ought never be used to gain an office but rather to save a lost world. So many have said, “You, in the church, do not believe in the Old Testament, do you?” It is the fact that sometimes we do not know how to answer a person when that…

In school, I was driven to achieve. I took detailed notes and studied them faithfully before each test. When I received each ‘A’, it was like a GOLD STAR in my heart.  Without realizing it, as I entered the full-time workforce, each baptism, each rededication, each successful counseling session, each new Bible student took on the form of another GOLD STAR for me in the eyes of people around me.  When the Lord blessed me with children, each triumph my…

Ron is his name. Like so many of our personal friends, Ron had always been a morally good person. He was a contributor to our society, had held a job since he was 16 years old, volunteered with a local charity, didn’t have any bad habits, a good neighbor to all, and a new father as his first child had been born a few weeks prior to me meeting him for the first time.  Like so many of our personal…

We have probably heard sermons or classes on Matthew 28:18-20 for years. In this verse, Jesus said the following: “… All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”…

I was overcome with a feeling of sadness. I was standing in the section of the city-owned cemetery, Potter’s Field. It was a rugged, uphill rocky area that was not desirable to families purchasing a burial plot so the city gave it to be used for people who could not afford a place to bury their loved one. The area was dotted with plastic markers signifying the location of graves. I was one of only three people at this graveside…