Archive for December 2016
The Good Shepherd is the Forgiver of My Sin
Sandy Hartman Be a Forgetful Forgiver Forgetfulness is rarely a quality that people are proud to possess. Frequently, forgetfulness is associated with the onset of Alzheimer’s or the beginning of senility. In other scenarios people ascribe it to a lack of character or low intelligence (and to the person doing the forgetting, it can certainly…
Read MoreThe Good Shepherd is the Creator of the Heavens
Stephen Caesar How Old Are the Stars? One of the strongest weapons in the arsenal of skeptics who reject young-universe Creationism has been the alleged great antiquity of the stars. As scientists currently date them, stars appear to be far older than would allow for a Biblical age of the universe. However, new, refined, technologically…
Read MorePraying for the Lost
George Stiekes The believer’s responsibility with regards to reaching the lost must begin with prayer. Paul makes this very clear in I Timothy 2:1-4: I exhort therefore, that FIRST OF ALL, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for ALL men: For kings, and for ALL that are in authority; that we may…
Read MorePraying for the Closed-Minded (2)
George Stiekes See Part One. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10 While listening to Christian radio, a program came on the air put out by Moody Bible Institute called,…
Read MorePraying for the Closed-Minded (1)
George Stiekes After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10 I have a list of people who need to be saved and some who I believe are saved but have backslidden…
Read MoreChristmas Cookies in an Empty Coffee Can
Volker Stoeckmann I sat listening intently as a middle-aged widow, the mother of four, taught us Bible stories in her broken English. She made the Bible come to life for my impressionable young mind as she pulled figures of Moses, Daniel, Ruth, John the Baptist, and the Christ-child out from the pages of her Bible…
Read MoreProvidence in the Incarnation of Christ (2)
Layton Talbert The following is an excerpt from the book, Not by Chance: Learning to Trust a Sovereign God (Greenville, S.C.: BJU Press, 2001). Part 1 recounted the providential context of the birth of Christ in history (politics, commerce, language) and then began discussing providential arrangements of specific circumstances including matters concerning John’s conception and…
Read MoreProvidence in the Incarnation of Christ (1)
Layton Talbert The following is an excerpt from the book, Not by Chance: Learning to Trust a Sovereign God (Greenville, S.C.: BJU Press, 2001). Pieces of a jigsaw puzzle make little sense by themselves. Each by itself is unfinished, incomplete. Each raises questions that can be answered only as it is fitted into its proper…
Read MorePeace
George Stiekes And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:13-14 …a multitude of the heavenly host… Can you at all imagine the impact this would have made on the shepherds…
Read MoreWhy We Make Christmas Last All Month
Pastor Don Johnson Christmas is a problem for some, both Christians and non-Christians. I don’t mean the problems of materialism and the lack of “Christ in Christmas,” I mean the fact that Christmas is celebrated at all. For non-Christians, the objection is a matter of pride as they look down on “The Church” and its…
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