Author: Stan Cox

Minister, West Side church of Christ since August of 1989 ........ Editor of Watchman Magazine (1999-2018 Archives available online @ http://watchmanmag.com) ........ Writer, The Patternists: https://www.facebook.com/ThePatternists

Sermon: The Fear of God

The text of Luke 12:4-7 teaches two great lessons. That man should fear God; and, that the soul of man is of great value. This sermon deals with those two major points.

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Podcast: The Need for Controversy

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Podcast Number 7

In our age, as in every other, there is the need for faithful Christians to contend earnestly for the faith (cf. Jude 3). Though we may be castigated for our efforts, we must be true to God and His will.

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Sermon: Back to the Basics

Sometimes Christians need to contemplate some basic truths about the Christian faith, hope, love, peace and joy, which will allow us to rejuvinate our Christian walk. We need to get back to the basics.

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Sermon: Reflecting Christ

It is important that we reflect Christ to the world, and our brethren. We should imitate Christ, those approved examples of Christians in the New Testament, and even mature and spiritually minded Christians in our day.

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In The News: No More Navel Gazing in Church

ROME (Reuters) – An Italian priest is resorting to some innovative theology to rid his church of young women’s bare midriffs.

“God knew what your navel looked like even before you were born, so there is no need to expose it in church,” commands a sign at the entrance to the church in Cinisello Balsamo.

Guards at major churches in Italy routinely keep out people wearing skimpy attire. But Father Felice says he resorted to the signs because his parish cannot afford guards to keep out the low-cut jeans and high-cut tops, newspapers reported Monday.

Monday, 6/5/2006 Reuters

Analysis:

It is summer, and clothes are coming off… all over the world. It is to the point that people are not only willing to dress immodestly, but they are not hesitant to do so in places where it is offensive to others.

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Podcast: Godly Sorrow

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Podcast Number 6

The apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 7:11 describes godly sorrow, which leads one to repentance and salvation. Unfortunately sometimes the actions of Christians caught in sin do not match the description given by Paul in this passage.

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Sermon: I Can Do It!

The Apostle Paul stated in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The Christian, with the help of the Lord, is able to accomplish what Christ requires in the areas of: Courage, Selflessness, Influence, Godliness & Steadfastness.

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Sermon: Authority By Implication

One of the ways Bible Authority is established is by Implication. The implication must be present in the text, so that the inference made is a necessary one. This lesson explains the principle.

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Gay Marriage Ban Destined To Fail

inthenewsWASHINGTON – President Bush and congressional Republicans are aiming the political spotlight this week on efforts to ban gay marriage, with events at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue – all for a constitutional amendment with scant chance of passage but wide appeal among social conservatives.

“Ages of experience have taught us that the commitment of a husband and wife to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the stability of society,” Bush said in his weekly radio address. “Government, by recognizing and protecting marriage, serves the interests of all.”

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Podcast: Devoted Disciples

ipodThe Lord’s church today needs devoted disciples. Six years into the new century, there needs to be the recognition on our part of the many challenges besetting the church, and the part we play as individual Christians in overcoming these challenges.

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Sermon: The New Man

Sermon Title: The New Man

Ephesians 4:17-24. As Christians, our life should be a life of righteousness and godliness rather than being characterized by the worldliness of our past existence.

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Sermon: Prices We Pay

Sermon Title: Prices We Pay

Anything that is of value costs us something. We must be diligent and focused to obtain the imperishable crown, and all the spiritual and valuable objects in life.

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Artificial Intelligence: Arguement for Design

ipodThe difficulty scientists are having developing artificial intelligence with computers is a strong argument for the design of humans, and thus a designer. If scientists can not design AI, how did chance come about with the real thing?

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Dutch Pedophiles to Launch Political Party

inthenewsDutch pedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals.

The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its Web site it would be officially registered Wednesday, proclaiming: “We are going to shake The Hague awake!”

The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether.

“A ban just makes children curious,” Ad van den Berg, one of the party’s founders, told the Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper.

“We want to make pedophilia the subject of discussion,” he said, adding that the subject had been a taboo since the 1996 Marc Dutroux child abuse scandal in neighboring Belgium. “We have been hushed up. The only way is through parliament.”

The Netherlands already has liberal policies on soft drugs, prostitution, and gay marriage, but the NVD is unlikely to win much support, the AD quoted experts as saying.

“They make out as if they want more rights for children. But their position that children should be allowed sexual contact from age 12 is of course just in their own interest,” anti-pedophile campaigner Ireen van Engelen told the daily.

The party said private possession of child pornography should be allowed although it favors banning the trade of such materials. The broadcast of pornography should be allowed on daytime television, with only violent pornography limited to the late evening, according to the party.

Toddlers should be given sex education and youths aged 16 and up should be allowed to appear in pornographic films and prostitute themselves. Sex with animals should be allowed although abuse of animals should remain illegal, the NVD said.

The party also said everybody should be allowed to go naked in public.

The party’s program also includes ideas for other areas of public policy including legalizing all soft and hard drugs and free train travel for all.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters)

Analysis:

It is a bit difficult to be shocked anymore when presented with examples of ungodliness and immorality in our world. I must confess, however, to being especially appalled at the reading of the preceding article. Pedophilia (sexual activity with children) has long had adherents (from ancient Greece until our day. But it seems pedophiles are becoming more vocal in the pressing of their peculiar agenda to be accepted by society.

One reason why such perverts are emboldened in their agenda to legalize such abominations is that a secular society has no sound foundation upon which to exclude any immoral activity. If God is not the arbiter in the questions regarding good and evil, who is? If men determine what is immoral and what is not, perhaps men will one day determine that pedophilia is wholesome and harmless. Farfetched? Hardly, as we see this is exactly what has been done with regard to homosexuality, abortion and euthanasia.

In the days of Noah we are told, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). It seems that the world in our day is looking more and more like that ancient world. God destroyed that world by water. One wonders whether God’s longsuffering is nearing its end with us as well! “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).

Sermon: Paul’s Preaching at Lystra

Sermon Title: Paul’s Preaching at Lystra

The example of Paul’s preaching at Lystra (Acts 14) shows us that the efficacy of the preaching of the gospel is dependent entirely upon the goodness of the hearts of men.

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