“Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?” cynically retorted the Egyptian Pharaoh. (Ex. 5:1).
This was in response to Jehovah’s messenger, Moses, who came with the command, “Let My people go.”
Who is the Lord? Well, Pharoah was about to find out in a dramatic, life-changing fashion. The ten plaques the Lord rained down upon the Egyptians was an “in your face” denunciation of their false gods. And a demonstration of His power. Continue reading
Filed under Florida College Lectures, God
Over 8 decades of research by Harvard University reveals a direct corollary between strong relationships and longevity of life.
One study of 7,000 people concluded that those most isolated were 3 times more likely to die than those with meaningful relationships.
Regarding the study, author John Ortberg wrote that “people who had bad health habits (such as smoking, poor eating habits, or alcohol use) but strong social ties lived significantly longer than people who had great health habits but were isolated.
In other words, Ortberg quipped, “It is better to eat Twinkies with good friends than to eat broccoli alone.” Continue reading
Filed under Renew in '22, Word of the Week
Today, all around the world, Christians will collectively meet to worship God. I wonder how many public prayers will be offered today?
I don’t know the answer. But it’s not hard to conceive it will be tens of thousands.
A disciple once asked Jesus, “Teach us to pray.” In that spirit, we offer ten suggestions and guidelines to help us more effectively lead other worshipers in prayer. Continue reading
Filed under Sunday Seed Thoughts
Good Morning from Beverly Hills,
This week has been characterized by wide swings, not just of temperatures in central Florida, but of distance traveled in a short period of time, as we made a quick trip to Ohio, but also of emotions as we spoke at the celebration of life service for our long time friend, Dave Wyckoff. Our blog posts this week reflect those wide swings. I guess that’s a pretty good snapshot of life, overall. Continue reading
Filed under Weekly Recap
John Rampton was once recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as being one of the top marketers in the world.
I recently came across one of his posts entitled, “8 Mental Hacks to Regain Your Motivation and Passion.” While his points are aimed at life in general and to the business world specifically, they apply almost 100% to reviving your spiritual passion.
Slightly modified for ThePreachersWord, see how many of these will work for you to renew your passion and increase your spiritual motivation. Continue reading
Filed under Friday's List to Life By
On the calendar of obscure holidays today, February 3rd is designated as National Women Physicians Day.
It’s also the day that officially observes the birthday of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S., in 1849. In fact, she graduated #1 in her class.
In the past 173 years, women have made great strides in the field of medicine, and especially so in the past 50+ years. My daughter-in-law, April, who’s a family practice physician, once told me that women now comprise more than 50% of all medical school students. Continue reading
Wemmicks were a community of painted wooden people in the children’s book You Are Special by Max Lucado.
Some of the Wemmicks were new and shiny. Others were chipped and peeling. Every day in Wemmicksville, they all received stickers. Some got gold stars, while others were given gray dots.
Punchinello, the main character, suddenly realized that only the pretty, shiny Wemmicks received the gold stars. He, and the others, got gray dots. So he decided he must not be worth very much. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
52 years ago this coming May my wife, Norma Jean, and I moved to Hillsboro, Ohio, for my first full-time preaching work. Very quickly we came to know a young couple, Dave and Nancy Wyckoff, and their 2 young daughters, Cheryln, and Tamara, who we affectionately called Tammy, and their newborn son, Jason.
Little did we know how that relationship would continue, and flourish, over the course of living in 6 different states and working with 9 different congregations in the coming years. Dave and Nancy were what you would call “forever friends.” We could go a year or more and not see each other, but pick up again, right where we left off. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
ThePreachersWord 