Remember growing up as a child, when you might be doing something you should not, and you would hear someone say, “Your mom is watching you?” That phrase was a guarantee for instant good behavior! It is always easier behaving when someone is watching. Such an attitude can also carry over into adult activities as well. Before Karen and I married, while working for a company called Stromberg-Carlson, one of my coworkers was always doing something other than work, until word passed through the ranks our supervisor was coming to our department. Then he was the model of efficiency. It is possible for this attitude to carry over into our spiritual life as well. It is easy to put on our nice garments, sit in the assembly and sing with fellow Christians, bow our heads reverently during prayers, open the Bible for the sermon and sit quietly while the Lord’s Supper is observed. Yet, what about when none of our brothers and sisters in Christ are with us? What are we like when we are alone (even though we are never alone, as God always watches over us)? The formation of Christian character is developed, not just when we are with other Christians, but when we are living it on our own, in the arena of everyday life. How we face both the blessings and challenges life provides is what molds and shapes us in the image of Christ. How we deal with the daily routine, and the challenges that …

In Patrick Morley’s book, Devotions for the Man in the Mirror, he touches on a point that I have often thought about relating to commitment. He writes: “Over the past few decades, many of us started off on the wrong foot with Jesus Christ. It is the proposition that Jesus can be ‘Savior’ without being ‘Lord.’ It is the idea that one can ‘add’ Christ, but not ‘subtract’ sin. Many of us have merely added Christ to our lives as another interest in an already busy and otherwise over-crowded schedule…” (13-14). When my son was learning to walk, we would walk behind him with our arms stretched out like guardrails with hands at the ready to catch him if he stumbled. We would wobble behind him as he wobbled across the floor for the first times. Eventually, we did not need to follow behind him any longer in this fashion. Why? Because he learned to walk on his own. It would be an odd sight for me to walk behind him in that fashion now. In fact, if I did he would probably say, “Cut that out!” When people first become Christians, they need mature Christians to walk beside them as I walked alongside my son ready to steady him if he stumbled. Just as babies learn to walk on their own as their bodies physically develop, so should new Christians be able to walk spiritually on their own. They ought to be able walk with Christ on their spiritual journey …

When the idea for this lesson came to mind, the outside temperature was near 100 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s hot. In recent years, the subject of global warming has been in the news. Some believe it to be a real concern; others believe it to be a hoax. Since there has been no detectable warming of our planet for the last 10 years, this has really concerned the adherents of global warming. Regardless of whether the average temperature of this earth has warmed by one degree over the last 100 years or not, the matters of 100 degree days in the summer and global warming are minor compared to what’s coming. Based on our belief that God is and the Bible is His Word, we would now consider a much more important topic concerning heat. Some in Peter’s time questioned the second coming of Christ (2 Peter 3:3-4). They said things in nature had not changed since creation, insinuating that this was proof that the promise of Jesus’ coming again had no basis. Peter then pointed out they had purposely disregarded the example of the flood. The same earth that perished in the flood was, by the same powerful Word of God, stored up (preserved, kept) for destruction by fire (2 Peter 3:1-7). By the time we get to Chapter Three, Verse Ten, we should not be surprised by the emphatic statement “the day of the Lord will come.” The day of the Lord is referring to Jesus’ Second Coming at the end …

In the spring of 1981, a young man was flown into the desolate north country of Alaska to photograph the natural beauty and mysteries of the tundra. He took along photo equipment, 500 rolls of film, several firearms and 1400 pounds of provisions. As the months passed, the entries in his diary, which at first detailed his wonder and fascination with the wildlife around him, turned into a pathetic record of a nightmare. In August he wrote, “I think I should have used more foresight about arranging my departure. I’ll soon find out.” He waited and waited, but no one came to his rescue. In November, he died in a nameless valley, by a nameless lake, 225 miles northeast of Fairbanks. An investigation revealed that he had carefully mapped out his venture, but had made no provision to be flown out of the area. ALL of us need to make specific plans for our departure from this life. If we do not, we can be left in a predicament worse than that young man! “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). The way to eternal life is through Jesus Christ, the Son of God: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except …

“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him” (Hebrews 2:1-3). Webster’s New American Dictionary briefly defines “neglect” as “1. To omit performance of, as a duty. 2. To fail to care for, as, he neglects his home. 3. To disregard, as he neglected my principal argument. Syn. Slight. To neglect is to fail to give proper attention to some duty or obligation; to disregard is to neglect intentionally; to slight is to treat with indifference and often contempt. Ant. Attend to, perform.” One does not have to abuse his body in order to lose his physical health. All he has to do is to neglect it. If he does not take proper care of himself and provide proper nourishment and exercise for the physical man, it will eventually catch up with him. The same principle applies in the spiritual realm. “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For …

I grew up on a farm in West Tennessee. We mostly grew cotton. Oh, how hot it could get in the middle of the afternoon as we chopped that cotton. I remember those afternoon clouds that would begin to gather, and kid-like, I would watch them with the hope that they would come on over and give us some rain. If this happened, we would get to go to the house for the rest of the day. If you have experienced this, you know just how disappointing it was when those clouds passed over and did not have a drop of rain. Peter used this very thing to describe false teachers. In 2 Peter 2:17, he wrote: “These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” He further describes them as having “great swelling words of emptiness.” We have all heard them — a lot of noise, a lot of wind – but no substance. Political correctness, feelings, opinions, and denominational doctrines are “wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest.” As such, they will not get you to heaven.

I recently saw an article that encouraged people to “Be Bad, Be Happy, Break A Few Rules.” I did not read the article; the heading was enough for me! However, I wondered how many people actually read it and were encouraged to put into practice what it said. Be bad! The whole of God’s Holy Word teaches quite the contrary. The definition for “bad” is evil or vicious. It is so hard to understand that there are many in this world who actually are vicious and choose to be evil. Another word for evil is iniquity, and God plainly says, “Woe to those who devise iniquity” (Micah 2:1), and then in Matthew 7:22-23 one reads, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name and in you name we have cast out devils and in your name have done many wonderful works? And then I will profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me you who work iniquity.” You see there is a “bad” consequence for choosing to be bad. Although there are exceptions to the rule, in the audience of this editorial, most of us have told our children from birth to “be good.” That means to be kind and gentle and choose to do the right thing. We have taught them that one should “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12), just as God has taught us. We even tell our animals to …

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches” (Luke 13:18-19 NKJV). Lord, I know I’m like a little mustard seed,I know how small I am, how much help I need;My knowledge is ignorant, my strength is so weak,Lord, I am nothing, therefore it is You that I seek. A mustard seed that stays a mustard seed is a wasted thing,It never changes, never faces the challenges that growth will bring;Its existence is really nothing more than just being there,It finally fades away, and the world really could not care. I know that within me is the potential to grow,Much more of Your will I can come to know,True strength can only come from serving You,Allowing You to guide everything I do. Lord, I know I’m like a little mustard seed,I know how small I am, how much help I need;My knowledge is ignorant, my strength is so weak,Lord, I am nothing, therefore it is You that I seek. Lord, help me to grow to be like a mighty tree,With the strength to support and comfort those who need me;May I reflect Your care, concern and love to all,And be the “mustard seed” that has grown to be strong and tall.

Living in Mississippi, everyone knows that once the summer months come, rain gets harder to come by. This year, we have had a particularly dry end of spring and early summer, with very little rain in our corner of Mississippi during that stretch. It has been highly bemoaned by many people that the lack of rain is starting to ruin the crops because the farmers and gardeners cannot keep enough water in the soil. Our garden was no exception. My sons have been helping in the garden every day this spring. This week, my four year old began praying with every prayer that God would send rain for our garden. Mind you, this is with a weather forecast that had no real chance of rain coming for the next week and a half. Yet, undeterred, my son continued to pray for rain at every meal, every prayer before bed and every other occasion he thought of it during the day. By the middle of the week, something happened. One day when there was to be no rain, suddenly we had a thirty percent chance, then fifty, then eighty. That night we had some thunderstorms roll through and give us a nice dousing rain for about an hour. Last night, we received the same thing. This morning, as I wrote this, the thunder was rolling and the rain was about to begin again. My son has also not ceased to thank God for the rain in every prayer since it began. …

One of the cardinal doctrines of the New Testament is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are 38 references to the resurrection of Jesus in the books of the New Testament. The resurrection of our Lord is mentioned at least 13 times in the Book of Acts alone; so it was the center of the preaching of the apostles and other inspired men. If a person believes in the resurrection of our Lord, then all the other miracles listed in the Bible can be easily accepted as being true. Should a person deny the resurrection of Jesus, then the other miracles would also be denied. In the epistle to the “church of God which is at Corinth,” the apostle Paul wrote in detail concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The general resurrection at His second advent is predicated upon the fact that our Lord Himself was resurrected from the dead. To deny one is to deny both. In the time of Paul, the Greeks did not believe in the resurrection of the body. They felt like the spirit relieved of the body was actually a blessing and the human body would never be resurrected. Even among the Jews, there was a sect called the Sadducees that did not believe in the resurrection of the dead (Matthew 22:23). In the great resurrection chapter of 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle dealt at length with this important subject. Here are some fateful conclusions that must be accepted if Christ was not raised from the dead. …

For over 60 years, I have been reading the story of Moses and the burning bush, as recorded in Exodus 3, but when I read it a few moments ago, I got a lesson from it that had never occurred to me before. Of course, this is the way God’s Word is. We could read it daily for a hundred years, and though we might assume that we have exhausted its meaning, it is ever fresh and new. We have seen preachers or others who seemed to be “on fire for the Lord” at some time in their lives, but after a while they seemed to burn out. We may remember Jeremiah who said, “And if I say, I will not make mention of him, not speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain” (Jeremiah 20:9). What was once a burning fire in some preachers has become little more than warm ashes now. We hear frequently in many areas of life talk of “burnout,” but it is especially troublesome to hear of preachers who get “burned up” at something and quit preaching the Gospel. What was it that made the bush not burn up or burn out? It was no doubt a miracle, but it was nevertheless the power of God. It was the miraculous power of God that was behind the first preaching of the Gospel …

What does the future hold in store for the Lord’s church? This is a question on many of our minds. We are in the midst of an “identity crisis,” and some are working toward a complete makeover that would alter our identity altogether and fashion us after the denominational mold. Our future as a body of believers will surely be determined by whether we choose to march to the cadence of modern culture, or to Jesus the Christ. Who will we follow; whose side are we on in this present-day battle between good and evil, light and darkness, right and wrong? You and I must have the realization that when we are “in step” with the world, we are “out of step” with Jesus. God is unwilling to share our affection with the world: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15). The Lord’s brother also wrote through inspiration of the Spirit, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). There are “terrorists” (messengers of Satan) on board and seeking to hijack the “ship of Zion” just as terrorists were on board United flight 93 on September 11, 2001. That day is permanently etched into our national psyche. The terrorists’ objective was to …

James 2:14-27 tells us in rapid fire succession of the irrevocable connection between faith and works. Despite all voices to the contrary, James 2:17 still reads, “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Verse 18 continues the thought, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” James 2:20-22 contains three most thought provoking questions that demand an affirmative answer based in Scripture – not on man’s opinion, attitude or worldview. “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?” James strengthens the divine line of reasoning in verses 23 and 24. “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.” Abigail is a most striking example of her faith being justified by her works. We are introduced to this beautiful woman and learn of her outstanding faith and works in 1 Samuel 25. Her husband Nabal was a very rich man, but he was harsh and badly behaved. Nabal had 3,000 …

The 12th President of the large and wealthy cult wrote, “Long before you were born a program was developed by your creators. …The principal personalities in this great drama were a Father Elohim, perfect in wisdom, judgment, and person, and two sons, Lucifer and Jehovah.” A contemporary of this man wrote, “The appointment of Jesus to be the Savior of the world was contested by one of the other sons of God. He was called Lucifer …this spirit-brother of Jesus desperately tried to become the Savior of mankind.” Finally, one of the modern educators of this cult said, “On first hearing, the doctrine that Lucifer and our Lord, Jesus Christ, are brothers may seem surprising to some, especially to those acquainted with latter-day revelations. But both the scriptures and the prophets affirm that Jesus Christ and Lucifer are indeed offspring of our Heavenly Father and, therefore, spirit brothers. …Both Jesus and Lucifer were strong leaders with great knowledge and influence. But as the First-born of the Father, Jesus was Lucifer’s older brother.” Before going further, we want to ask, “Have you noticed how often these writers affirm the Scriptures teach something, but they never cite the passage?” In the above passage, the writer said both the Scriptures and the Prophets affirm that Jesus Christ and Lucifer are the offspring of God. We ask, “Where is this concept affirmed by either the Scriptures or the Prophets?” We fear these men, like the Sadducees who often challenged Jesus, err not knowing the Scriptures. …

The talented character actor Walter Brennan (1894-1974) has to be everyone’s favorite actor – that is, of course, if you are old enough to remember him. There is a generation gap as far as younger folks enjoying ole time movies and TV. He starred in a television western, “The Guns of Will Sonnett,” 50 episodes from 1967 to 1969. One of the catch phrases that ole Will Sonnett (Walter Brennan) used, if my memory is on track, was, “No brag – just fact.” With that said, Will Sonnett could lay it on thick, getting to the point and telling it like it is. To be a vain boaster, bragger is a negative character trait. The idea behind the character Will Sonnett was that he told the truth and should not be mistaken as a boasting braggart. He was stating a fact that he was not a bragger, but was telling the truth. I am afraid such a time of telling the truth and the whole truth may have slipped through the crack somewhere. As I ponder this statement, “No brag – just fact,” I recall a friend of mine that had this trait of telling it like it is. He would listen to a bunch of men yapping away on subjects they knew little or nothing about. Finally, he would calmly state something like, “No, that’s not correct!” He would then quickly, with few words, logically lay down the facts, correcting the blab. Our Lord Denounced Hypocrisy, Deceit,Falsehood and the …

No matter how serious or troublesome a thing might be, there’s always someone who can come up with something funny, ludicrous or downright ignorant to say about it. You can prove this to yourself by recalling things you have heard said about mothers-in-law, tornadoes or arthritis. Most small towns have two or three cultural centers, from which the local folks derive their daily enlightenment. Generally, these are the barber shop, the courthouse square or the spot where all the checker players hang out. A discussion of marriage, in just such a place, recently turned up some very enlightening thoughts. One fellow quoted a philosopher, named Epicharmus, as having said, “Marriage is like casting dice. If chance brings you a good and virtuous woman, your lot is happy! If you gain instead a gadding and gossiping and thriftless queen, no wife is yours, but an everlasting plague in woman’s garb, and the habitable globe holds not so dire a torment anywhere.” Another fellow spoke up and said, “It is better to be half hanged than to be ill wed.” Then, there was the mastermind who postulated the idea that a perfect marriage would consist of a blind bride and a deaf groom. All of this reminds one of some professing themselves to be wise (Romans 1:22). On the other hand, God’s Holy Word has much to say about marriage. First of all, “And the Lord God said it is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). In His …

For Christians, there is no substitute for attending church. Many people, however, go to church if they feel they “need it” at the time. Christian motivation for fellowship must be to obey God and to give to others. It is important to attend church to express of our Love for God and to build up our spiritual strength. However, what happens to us when we habitually forsake the assembly? You will begin to drift (Hebrews 2:1). Slip (pararheo) means, “to flow past, glide by, drift away” (Vine’s, V.1, 339). A ship loosed from its moorings drifts out to sea. Christians leave the church by gradually and subtlety forsaking the assembly. They drift away and became erring Christians (cf. Galatians 6:1; James 5:19-20; 2 Peter 2:21-22). You will begin to doubt (Hebrews 3:12-13). The Israelites wandered 40 years in the wilderness because of their distrust in God (Psalm 95). Yet, the Lord wants spiritually growth (1 Peter 2:2; 3:18). The Corinthians did not grow (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). Those that stop growing are “blind, and cannot see afar off, and have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (2 Peter 1:9). We must grow or we will die! You will become dull of hearing (Hebrews 5:11). The Hebrews had become dull of hearing, which caused their spiritual development to completely stop (5:11). Dull (nothros) means, “slow, sluggish, lazy” (Vine’s, V.1, 343). Lazy Christians cultivate no home for the Word in their hearts. Their hearts are crowded with worldly cares. You will backslide (Hebrews 6:4-6). Remember …

An epitaph is a brief statement that commemorates or summarizes a deceased person or past event. On the tombstones of many we have seen words like, “Beloved Wife of…,” “Gone to be with God” or “Safe in the Arms of Jesus.” What will be put on your tombstone? What really should be engraved on your headstone that summarizes your life? Would someone put on your tombstone, “He Obeyed Not the Gospel”? Men must obey the Gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). Obedience is essential. There is nothing that can take its place (1 Samuel 15:22). Obey the Gospel now. Obey the facts of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Obey the commands of the Gospel (Matthew 28:19; Luke 24:47; Mark 16:15-16). Then and only then will you receive the promises of the Gospel (Luke 24:47; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Romans 1:16). If you are a child of God, I ask you what will they put on your headstone? Will they put, “He Hath Loved This Present World”? Demas forsook Paul, having loved this present world and all that in it is (2 Timothy 4:10). God said, “Love not this world, neither the things that are in this world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). Jesus said we must be careful lest “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in, choke the word and it becometh unfruitful” (Mark 4:24).