April 17, 2019 · 6:57 am

A Passage To Ponder: 1Corinthians 9:24-27

On Monday Micah Herndon crawled across the finish line at the Boston Marathon. No, he didn’t win the race. But he won the hearts of everyone who saw the video that went viral.

Herndon, a 31-year-old Marine veteran from Tallmadge, Ohio, was running the 26.2-mile race to pay tribute to three Marines who he served alongside. Matthew Ballard and Mark Juarez and British journalist Rupert Hamer died in 2010 from an improvised explosive device’s blast in Afghanistan. The Record-Courier in Ohio has more details of his inspiring story: Continue reading →

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April 16, 2019 · 8:09 am

Disturbed By the Name of Jesus

Several years ago Bill and Gloria Gaither wrote a short, simple but powerful song with these moving lyrics.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; there’s just something about that name
Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain;
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all Heaven and earth proclaim
Kings and kingdoms will all pass away
But there’s something about that name
Kings and kingdoms will all pass away
But there’s something about that name Continue reading →

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April 15, 2019 · 7:37 am

Word of the Week: Conformed

This week finds Norma Jean and me in Nashville, Tennessee, where I’m preaching in a meeting for the Kemper Heights church. We’ve been here many times before, so it’s enjoyable to return and see many friends we’ve known from years ago.

Yesterday morning I presented a lesson entitled “Becoming Like Christ.” My study took me to this passage in Romans 8:29. Continue reading →

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April 12, 2019 · 7:49 am

Will Bagels and Coffee Improve our Worship?

“During our years of church planting, we tried to change people’s perceptions about what the Sunday worship would look like,” wrote Michelle Lazurek, in a recent Crosswalk.com article.

“We took out pews and replaced them with pub tables and chairs, added lights and a stage and most importantly,” the award-winning author and preacher’s wife said, “(we) added a breakfast bar where people could grab bagels and other breakfast foods and coffee during the service.”

Lazurek admitted, “Not everyone loved these changes.” Continue reading →

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April 11, 2019 · 7:21 am

Is Jesus a King Without a Kingdom?

We hear and read a good bit about the “Evangelical Right” today, especially in the area of politics. However, what may be little known to the average person, is that the doctrine of Premillennialism reigns in Evangelical theology.

For the past 100 years Premillennialism has gained a wide acceptance in the Protestant world in general and evangelicals specifically. Some trace the growing belief to the publishing of Scofield Reference Bible in 1909. Continue reading →

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April 10, 2019 · 7:45 am

A Passage To Ponder: Luke 24:1-53

 

Perplexed hearts. Discouraged hearts. Troubled Hearts.

This pretty much describes the mood from the women at Jesus’ tomb, to the disciples on the Emmaus road, to the scattered 11 now huddled in secret and fearfully wondering what was next.

For three days the disciples’ world has been turned upside down. They will forever remember the events from Thursday night to Friday night as the saddest 24 hours of their lives. Continue reading →

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April 9, 2019 · 7:30 am

Rewriting Your Legacy

Last year after suffering a shocking and humiliating defeat in the first game of the NCAA basketball tournament, last night the University of Virginia Cavaliers won their first NCAA basketball championship.

“It was a painful gift,” said Cavaliers’ coach Tony Bennett as he reflected on being the first #1 seeded team to lose to a #16 seeded team in the 2018 tournament.

Last year the Cavaliers were the favorites to win the title. But the unthinkable happened. The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) blew out the UVA by 20 points.

How do you recover and return from such an epic fall? Continue reading →

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