“Is God Dead?”
These 3 words on the April 8th issue of Time Magazine stirred the emotions of a nation in 1966.
I remember it. I was a senior at Cascade High School in Clayton, Indiana. Not that I remember seeing the magazine, because my Dad subscribed to Truth Magazine, not Time Magazine. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder, Psalms
Last Friday when working out at my local YMCA, I had just finished my reps on the Ab Curl and was waiting for a fellow to finish the Back Extension machine, so I can get on.
The guy on the machine next to me quipped, “You don’t have to do that one. he’ll do it for you.” Continue reading
Filed under Responsibility
Today, March 9th is National Get Over It Day, according to the National Day Calendar of unusual holidays.
Jeff Goldblatt, an entrepreneur from Atlanta, George, created this day when he was struggling to get over a romantic breakup. He even wrote a poem and began a website to promote this day.
The National Holiday website offers this explanation. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
Mountain top experiences. They are special. Both literally. And figuratively.
Norma Jean and I enjoy the mountains. We honeymooned in the Smoky Mountains and have been to the top of Clingman’s Dome many times, where on a clear day you can see 7 states. We’ve also marveled at the majesty of the Rocky Mountains and enjoyed the view from over 11,000 ft on the Continental Divide. And we’ve been blessed to enjoy the beauty and the break-taking view from Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii.
However, all of our experiences pale in comparison to the mountain top experience of Peter, James, and John when they stood on the mountain with Jesus in Matthew 17. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
According to a recent poll, 65% of Democrats distrust newspapers, and 80% distrust TV news.
Among Republicans, their trust level is even lower with only 5% saying they had “a great deal or quite a lot of confidence” in newspapers, and only 8% trusted the TV news.
Lack of confidence has fallen in the past 12-18 months according to Gallup polling in all our American institutions. Police. The medical community. Churches and organized religion. Congress. The Supreme Court. And the Presidency. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
Andy Stanley says guardrails are, “a system designed to keep us from straying into dangerous or off-limit areas.”
Stanley reminds us that guardrails are beneficial when driving across a bridge, or on a curvy mountain road. The guardrails are constructed to keep us from getting too close to the edge. They both warn and protect.
My wife always feels a little safer when we’re driving up a mountain road and there are guardrails. If there aren’t any guardrails she gets a bit nervous. And suggests maybe we ought to take a different route. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
“We may be able to postpone some decisions but we cannot postpone living,” observed Warren Wiersbe in Looking Up When Life Gets You Down.
This statement jumped out at me as I thumbed through his book looking for something to read.
Wiersbe further reminds us that “Life is a gift from God, and we must treasure it, protect it and invest in it.” Continue reading
Filed under Life
“Preaching must be marked by three elements, advised Warren Wiersbe. “Conviction. Warning. And appeal.”
In other words, “Reprove, rebuke and exhort.
To quote an old rule of preachers, “He should afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.” Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
“Man is made for joy and joy is for man,” wrote the 16th-century Catholic bishop Francis de Sales.
“I think joy is not joy at all unless it is in man’s possession,” de Sales continued. “The human heart is so dependant upon joy that, without joy, it cannot find rest. Joy is true joy only in so far as it is possessed in the heart of man.” Continue reading
“It has been well said that nobody goes to church to find out what happened to the Jebusites,” opined Warren and David Wiersbe in their fine little book, The Elements of Preaching.
The Wiersbes continue with this advice, “A sermon that lingers in the past tense is not really a sermon at all; it is either a Bible story or a lecture. We live in the present tense and we need to hear what God has to say to us today.” Continue reading
Filed under Sunday Seed Thoughts
ThePreachersWord 