If Two Agree
Jesus says in Matthew 18:19, “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” In my first pastorate revival appeared to have come after...
The Still Voice
How does God speak to us? Of course, He speaks to us through His Word, the Bible. But is God still able to communicate with us today in any other way? In 1 Kings 19:12 the Bible tells us about God’s communication with the prophet Elijah, “And after the earthquake a fire;...
People Need the Lord
His name, let’s call him, AJ. AJ was on probation sitting in my office. If he had been in church you might have thought that he was the preacher’s son or the deacon’s son. Or you might have thought AJ would be delivering the morning sermon. AJ was clean cut,...
Born Again
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. – 2 Corinthians 5:17. “It’s a boy!!” Yesterday our first grandchild was born (Madison Cael Wrather, 8 lbs., 12 and 1/2 ozs., 22 inches). I marveled again...
An Ordinary Day
Think of the lame man in Acts chapter 3 who was laid at the gate Beautiful so he could beg. He was just begging for alms and he just wanted to survive. “Just give me some crumbs,” he was most likely crying out to the people that passed. He had been doing this...
Kindness
In Galatians 5:22-23 we are told, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance….” The NIV translates gentleness as kindness. Kindness can be a shocking thing when you are expecting the opposite. Before I was a pastor I was a parole officer. My job was to supervise people...
Fear Not
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness – Isaiah 41:10. Going to a dentist’s office is usually not something...
Misunderstandings
I grew up on a cotton farm and by the age of four or five I was ready to help out with some of the farming duties. The day arrived when I was to go to the field and “chop” cotton along with my mother and sister. Now I had heard...
Give Us this Day
Our Lord teaches in Matthew 6:11 to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and in verse 13, to pray, “…deliver us from evil.” I believe it is our responsibility to pray daily for protection from the enemy. Over the years I have prayed for the protection of my family each day and as the...
Freedom in Christ
Today in the USA we are celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. For over 200 years we Americans have enjoyed the privilege of freedom (Of course, some gained that freedom only later after a bloody civil war.). However, the vision of freedom seen...