Who Wants You to Have Salvation?

The answer may surprise you! God want you to have salvation. His grace is for everyone. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,” Titus 2:11. The grace of God came to all through Jesus His Son. He is the savior of all the world. When Peter and John were…

How Valuable ls One Soul?

How valuable is one soul? The Master said, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). One soul is worth more than “the whole world.” Every soul is valuable because it…

Have You Earned Your Place In Heaven?

After making a whopping $50 million donation to a gun control initiative, and because of his work against obesity and smoking, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was quoted as saying: “I am telling you, if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading…

Good News and Bad News

There is a lot of bad news out there, as mirrored on TV and the Internet. The stock market is in trouble, thousands of Americans jobs are on the line, and threats of terrorism are shadows in the background. And then there are our own personal pain and problems to contend with. Financial, physical, medical…

Do Non-Christians and Christians Stand on Equal Footing with God?

The Bible seems pretty clear about this question. We can read for ourselves the answer. The real question is: Do we accept the answer? The world doesn’t see the difference at times. Sadly, there are some within the church who can’t tell the difference either. Let me start with a scripture. Galatians 6:10 reads, “As…

Have You Heard The Good News?

[239 words] The “Good News” is the saving Gospel message of Jesus Christ. We must understand and share the story of our Lord and Savior. Acts 2 teaches us the confidence we have in the One who saves us. Acts 2:22 – He was a man. Acts 2:22 – God showed us who He was…

Whosoever Will

[135 words] In Matthew 8:2, a leper knelt before Jesus and said, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” Jesus responded by saying, “I will; be clean” (Matt. 8:3). Indeed, Jesus was willing to do a great deal. He was willing to leave the glory of Heaven (Phil. 2:6-8). He was willing to…

Four Thieves of the Crucifixion

[391 words] In the following article, Gary Puryear, talks about the thieves that were crucified with Jesus. We know that only two different men were crucified at the same time as Jesus was, but Gary discusses four different angles for us to consider. THE THIEF WHO REGRETTED (John 12:6). Oh the advantages Judas had! He…

Consider Yourself

[219 words] I am often asked my opinion about someone else’s standing with God. “They did so-and-so. If they refuse to repent, will they be lost?” Jesus was asked similar questions. Someone said, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many,…

He Was a Very Meticulous Man

[143 words] He always took his trash to the curb on the day it was to be picked up. He never let his grass grow above two inches tall. He paid his bills a week ahead of time to avoid late fees. He never had over two cups of coffee in the morning. He washed…

When is a Shark Not a Shark?

[225 words] Surely you saw it on TV about a man who was going to race a great white shark. I didn’t see the show but I believe the shark won the race. But then the rage started. People found out that the shark was not real. It really was all a stunt, a farce.…

When We Walk With God, the Best is Yet to Come

[202 words] Youth! As children, we thought that there wasn’t anything we couldn’t achieve. And we believed we could become anything. Astronauts, famous scientists, sports stars, movie stars, presidents, and generals! But then we grew older. Life began to beat us down. Victories were fewer than defeats. Health began to wane. And most people my…

Long Walk Part of Gift

[316 words] A missionary’s wife was once teaching some children in Africa about the value of giving. She quoted Acts 20:35 where our Savior is quoted as saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” One little African boy soaked in every word and then decided to live out her teaching, but he…

The Choice ls Ours

[378 words] A young psychology student went into the army. Drawing KP duty, he decided to test a long-held theory of his concerning the power of the positive. He was given the job of passing out apricots at the end of the chow line. Now if you have ever tasted army apricots, you will understand…

When We All Get to Heaven

[195 words] There is a wondrously upbeat song that many love to sing in our worship services. The refrain goes like this: When we all get to Heaven, What a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, We’ll sing and shout the victory! The problem with that song is that not…

I Shall Not be Moved

[219 words] In Psalm 16:8 we read of the great support we receive through God’s strength: “I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” The same faith held by the Psalmist is that which should uphold us today. As Paul says in Romans…

Oh, It’s Nothing

[302 words] It’s greater than God yet also more evil than the devil. The poor have it, and the rich don’t want it. If you wear it you show everything, if you speak it you remain quiet and if you buy it you save money. The blind see it, the deaf hear it but if…

Snowbound

[237 words] December 14, 2016, in Albany, Oregon, a homeowner went outside after a winter storm to an unwelcome surprise. Lying on his driveway, was a fellow whose description sounded a lot like me. He was about my height and weight and age. He even had a beard like mine. He had some cash on…

God’s Color Line

[182 words] The Bible teaches that God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth… ” (Acts 17:26). Through the years, man has drawn racial distinctions of black, white, yellow, red, etc. Racial prejudice was sinful in the life of Simon Peter, whom Paul,…

Not Far

The distance to some destinations may make us anxious, such as the distance from our thirteenth birthday to being “on our own.” Jesus spoke of another distance that evidently was intended to instill focus and determination in the man receiving it. When the man, a scribe, commented favorably on Jesus’ answer to his question about…

How Much Must I Know to Become a Christian?

How many lessons does it take to become a Christian? Let’s look briefly at some biblical examples: 3000 on Pentecost heard one sermon—Acts 2. The Ethiopian Eunuch got one Bible lesson—Acts 8. Cornelius and his family and friends heard one lesson—Acts 10. The Philippian jailor and his family heard one lesson—Acts 16. What do I…

The Way to Heaven

Most people when asked will say and honestly believe that they are going to heaven, but it is important to be absolutely sure! There is a way that seems to be right but is not: There is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death (Proverbs…

Baptism

A man is stumbling through the woods totally drunk when he comes upon a preacher baptizing people in the river. He proceeds to walk into the water and subsequently bumps into the preacher. The preacher turns around and is almost overcome by the smell of alcohol, whereupon he asks the drunk, “Are you ready to…

Good News and Bad News

There is a lot of bad news out there, as mirrored on TV and the Internet. The stock market is in trouble, thousands of Americans jobs are on the line, and threats of terrorism are shadows in the background. And then there are our own personal pain and problems to contend with. Financial, physical, medical…

Have You Earned Your Place In Heaven?

After making a whopping $50 million donation to a gun control initiative, and because of his work against obesity and smoking, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was quoted as saying: “I am telling you, if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading…

Are You Covered?

  [344 words] All kinds of insurance are available to those who are willing to pay the price. There is health insurance, life insurance, car insurance, liability insurance, homeowners insurance, flood insurance, theft insurance, etc. Some buy all the kinds they can in order to have themselves fully covered and many insurance companies spend lots…

The Value of Being a Christian

Since the founding of our nation, people from all over the world have looked longingly to America, the land of freedom and opportunity. They realize the value of being an American. While there are some who now dispute this, by and large, we are still overwhelmed with the numbers of immigrants who come to these…