Monthly Archives: August 2020

Word of the Week: Spirituality

As August ends and September begins with Labor Day just around the corner, I’m reminded that much of 2020 has been consumed by various crises.

Many of the challenges we’ve faced seem to be centered around COVID-19 which have contributed to health care crisis, financial crisis, and national and international crisis. This has affected families, churches, businesses, colleges, sports and our most cherished institutions.

Additionally, issues of racism have been reignited with the death of George Floyd, a black man, at the hands (or more specifically, the knee) of a white Minneapolis cop. Since then there have been other deaths that sparked further racial unrest. Continue reading

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Sunday Seed Thoughts: Surviving the Storm

Since we are only a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico, we were tracking two tropical storms, Marco and Laura,  heading toward the Gulf in the past week.

Marco fizzled. But Laura turned westward from us, increased to a category 4 and slammed the southern Louisiana coast. Lake Charles was hit hard.

While not as destructive as predicted, the worse storm to hit the state since 1856 has disrupted lives. Flooded homes. Damaged property. And at least 14 people have died.

Yet during this time, there have been many other storms. Perhaps you have been in one of them. Continue reading

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Weekly Recap: August 23-28

Good Morning from Homosassa, Florida

Norma Jean and I are continuing to enjoy spending time with our family while adapting to the daily rains and the incredible August heat.   We’ve also enjoyed worshiping with the brethren at the West Citrus Church in Crystal River, where I’m preaching again tomorrow. Continue reading

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Friday’s List To Live By #8

With so many things around us that are discouraging, it’s easy to become a discourager.

Adapted and condensed from Mike Lee’s “Get Hope” website, our list this week offers simple, specific ways you can be an encourager.

To access past lists to live by, click here. Continue reading

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The Word of the Cross

Melvin Newland tells a story about a little girl who proudly wore a shiny cross on a chain around her neck.

One day she was approached by a man who said to her, “Little girl, don’t you know that the cross Jesus died on wasn’t beautiful like the one you’re wearing? It was an ugly, wooden thing.” Continue reading

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A Passage To Ponder:Matthew 28:1-10

There’s a painting called “Checkmate” painted by Friedrich August Moritz Retzsch, that used to hang in the Louvre Art Museum in Paris.

The painting depicts a chess match between the devil and Goethe’s Dr. Faust, who had sold his soul to the devil. It appears as if the devil has won. Faust has only the king, the queen, and a weak pawn left. The look on Faust’s face is one of abject despair. From across the chessboard, the devil leers at him in anticipation of his expected victory. Ready to say, Checkmate! Continue reading

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God Gave You This Day

Today is National Banana Split Day.

According to the National Day Calendar of unusual and little known holidays, the banana split was not created in an ice cream parlor, but in a pharmacy in 1904. It was the brainchild of David Evans Strickler, a pharmacist’s apprentice, who enjoyed experimenting with soda fountain sundaes in his free time.

The banana split was so popular that college students paid 10 cents, double the price of a normal sundae.

Do you know what else today is? Continue reading

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Word of the Week: Temperance

“Temperance is moderation in the things that are good and total abstinence from the things that are foul,” wrote, Frances E. Willard, a 19th-century American educator and president of the Women’s Temperance Union.

In Willard’s time, the concept of temperance was often linked to the total abstinence of alcoholic beverages. Continue reading

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Sunday Seed Thoughts: Names of Jesus

“The name of Jesus is not so much written as plowed in the history of the world,” once wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson.

When the angel appeared to Joseph and said Mary had conceived a child of the Holy Spirit, He instructed, “You shall call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins.” Yet, there are over 200 names, titles, and designations for Jesus in the Bible that attest to his greatness, prominence, and Preeminence. Continue reading

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Weekly Recap: August 16-21

The focus of our posts this week has been on the topic of feelings. This post provides a link for you to catch up on any you may have missed.

Plus it also serves as a way for you to share ThePreachersWord with others via email or on social media.

Also, since Norma Jean and I are celebrating our 52nd wedding anniversary tomorrow, included is a bonus post on marriage. Continue reading

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