Sound Teaching

In about 512 B.C., as Darius I of Persia led his armies north of the Black Sea, the Scythians sent him a message comprised of a mouse, a frog, a bird, and five arrows. Darius summoned his captains. “Our victory is assured,” he announced. “These arrows signify that the Scythians will lay down their arms; the mouse means the land of the Scythians will be surrendered to us; the frog means that their rivers and lakes will also be ours; and the Scythian army will fly like a bird from our forces.”

But an adviser to Darius said, “The Scythians mean by these things that unless you turn into birds and fly away, or into frogs and hide in the waters, or into mice and burrow for safety in the ground, you will all be slain by the Scythian archers.” Darius took counsel and decided that the second was the right interpretation, and beat a retreat!

Today in the Word, January 1992, p.22.

It does matter how you interpret scripture. There is the true interpretation of a passage, and then there are other interpretations which men assert to their own peril. We can know the truth, but we must set aside our own preconceptions, and let the word of God say what it says! “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

This sermon was preached to the West Side congregation to explain why the elders determined to cease monetary support of brother Bobby Holmes. The elders, together with brother Stan Cox had studied on several occasions with brother Holmes, differed with him regarding his teaching of divorce, and asked brother Cox to address the subject, and explain the events which led to the ending of his support. The sermon is, in part, an examination of brother Holmes’ teaching on the subject.

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A majority of Canadians celebrated Easter over the weekend but not all of them went to church.

While 73 per cent of Canadians responding to a poll by Ipsos-Reid believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and was resurrected to eternal life and 62 per cent agreed that through his life, death and resurrection, God provided the way for the forgiveness of sins, just 17 per cent said they attend church regularly.

Continue reading “Religion Without the Pews” →

At the height of her fame as the other woman in the Ivana and Donald Trump breakup, Marla Maples spoke of her religious roots. She believed in the Bible, she told interviewers, then added the disclaimer, “but you can’t always take [it] literally and be happy.”

Chuck Colson
The Body, p. 124

Certainly an honestly stated sentiment, and one that is fairly typical of our day. You can’t take the Bible literally and be happy, because the Bible condemns your ungodliness! Too many, when faced with the choice of either ceasing their sin, or rejecting the Bible, choose to reject the Bible. “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13).

Sermon Title: A Life of Decision

Luke 9:62. A Christian must commit himself to a dedicated life of service to His Lord and God.

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Sermon Title: Profanity

Profanity is ubiquitous in our society. It is sin, and followers of God must keep their speech pure.

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Our young, spoiled, narcissistic, shallow Olympians better not be the best we’ve got.

The 1960 musical Bye Bye Birdie yelped “Kids! What’s the matter with kids today?” Back then not much, as a matter of fact. A lot, evidence suggests, nowadays. Torino’s Winter Olympics showed what’s the matter with kids: Many are rude, narcissistic, and spoiled to the gills.

The Olympics once represented the best of America’s best man- and maidenhood. Bob Richards: reverend and decatholoner. Rafer Johnson: sprinter and pioneer. Peggy Flemming: girl next door. Each etched deference, teamwork, and stoic heroism – we, not me…

…How did we plunge from then [sportsmanship in earlier Olympics] to this?

Begin with culture, as toxic as Love Canal. Self-esteem trumps the Golden Rule. Obscenity floods film. Most network television is a horror house. The Wall Street Journal reports: “New network [MY Network TV] Will Showcase Greed, Lust, Sex.” Spineless parents accept this trend; courageous parents don’t.

The National Survey of Families and Households finds children from traditional families less prone to fail in school, use drugs, or become coarse and profane (like today’s Olympians). A University of California at Berkeley survey of middle-class children from age 5 to their early 20s says that discipline helps manners and mores. Raised right, you act right.
If not – well, visit any mall to see the contrast. Teenagers jostle the elderly. Few boys open a door for girls. And girls are too busy dressing like an MTV Video “ho” to notice. Dialogue is a contact sport; English superfluous to profanity. What’s the matter with kids? Gaucherie is their DNA. Recently I called the wife of a national pollster “ma’am”; she reacted like Dracula at the sign of the cross.

Priorities have consequences. Americans in 2006 shout that money rules; ethics are situational; beauty is skin-deep; and humility is for squares. Diogenes sought honesty; we seek designer garb, an iPod, the latest DVD. “Style matters” – depth does not.

Many children are as honest, kind, and moral as children were a decade ago. Many more, I suspect, are not. Tom Brokaw deemed the adults of World War II “the greatest generation.” What if the Winter Olympics reveal a showboating, trash-talking, striving-pathetically-to-be-hip “worst generation” of kids?

Curt Smith
National Review Online

Analysis:

No analysis is really needed here. Just an “attaboy.” The writer rightly points out that children who are raised right, act right. In a society where most parents have abdicated their responsibility to bestow decent values upon their kids, Christian parents must raise their children to be faithful Christians, and honest citizens. Manners, humility, civility… all of these matter.

The apostle Paul wrote, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” (Colossians 4:6).

It’s a shame that in America, too often people follow the lead of such jerk athletes as Bode Miller or Terrell Owens rather than the Apostle Paul.

Sermon Title: Confidence in the Gospel
Sermon Text: 2 Corinthians 4; The Gospel gives us reason to be confident in our hope, and our ability to cope in this world.

No PowerPoint with this sermon.

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Sermon Title: The Measure of a Strong Church
Five scriptural characteristics or Measures of a strong, vital local congregation.
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I am experiencing the computer equivalent of an out-of-body experience. In front of me is Apple’s sleek new MacBook Pro laptop computer. And on the screen is a familiar sight in an unfamiliar setting: the rolling green hill and the blue sky spotted with clouds (and dotted with icons) that is the unmistakable Windows XP desktop. It’s like Pepsi in a Coke bottle, DeLay as a Democrat, Johnny Damon in a Yankee uniform (oops, forget that last one). Though it had previously been possible to run Windows on a Macintosh via pokey simulation software, this time Windows runs “native” (i.e., directly, just like with Dell and the rest) on the Intel chips that Apple has been switching to this year. Depending on how I start it up, this MacBook can retain the identity of a Mac running the Tiger OS, or become a Windows box in Mac clothing. It’s making me dizzy.

Steven Levy
The Technologist, Newsweek

Analysis:

Many know that I am a bit of a computer nut. And, I have always used computers that have Windows operating systems. Continue reading “Win on Mac: A Sign of the Apocalypse?” →

The viewing of pornography, in the past, necessitated a bit of moxie on the part of the viewer. If one wanted to look at a magazine or other materials, he had to go to an “adult” establishment, or lay a magazine on the counter of the local convenience store, and risk being seen by someone he knew.

Of course, if a man was profane, this did not deter him. However, the danger of being “found out” precluded some Christians who might otherwise have been tempted to sin in this manner.

Continue reading “Internet Pornography” →

In the aftermath of the Gary Winkler murder, pundits are filling the airwaves with speculation regarding motive, and seeking to fill in the gaps of knowledge regarding the relationship between the deceased and his wife, Mary Winkler. Also, there is interest in knowing more about the church of Christ. Unfortunately, in a recent (March 27th) edition of Nancy Grace’s show on CNN, Ms. Grace asked, not a member of the Lord’s church, but a Baptist Minister, about the church. A partial transcript of the show is below:

Continue reading “Church Maligned on CNN” →

The wife of a slain Tennessee pastor confessed to killing him and has been charged with first-degree murder, officials said today, after she was questioned overnight by state, federal and local officials.

The woman, Mary Winkler, is in the process of being extradited from Alabama, where she was found Thursday night, and will probably return to Tennessee this weekend, said Roger Rickman, a police investigator in Selmer, Tenn., where the Winkler family lives.

The charge of first degree murder, indicates that she planned the killing in advance, authorities said. “First degree is premeditated,” Officer Rickman said.

Continue reading “Gospel Preacher Killed” →

Sermon Title: The Impact of Our Faith

Our faith has a direct impact on every aspect of our lives and the relationships we enjoy with others.

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Sermon Title: Are You Watching?

Lessons from the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. (Matthew 25:1-13)

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