We’ve just restarted a program in our church, something we did years ago, but that fell by the wayside. It’s good that we’ve picked it up and resown the seed. The program is an official “pray for your church family” list, with a new list coming out each week of seven individuals or families to…
Merry Christmas! Today is the day we celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. Most of the world celebrates the day, but not all celebrate the event. Many have not even heard the story surrounding Jesus’ birth. I thought I would fix that for those who may read this. Below is a link to a…
A hymn from The Psalmist, #536, written by Philip Doddridge. BLEST Jesus, while in mortal fleshI hold my frail abode,Still would my spirit rest on thee,My Saviour and my God. On thy dear cross I fix my eyes,Then raise them to thy seat;Till love dissolves my inmost soul,At my Redeemer’s feet. Be dead, my heart,…
Does the world seem angry to you? Do you wonder why we’re so argumentative, fighting at the drop of a hat? Why is it so easy to respond angrily to anything? It seems that if someone has the audacity to disagree, even slightly, we take umbrage, take offense, get upset, and tell the world how…
While looking for something in my wife’s files I ran across this poem she wrote over 50 years ago. It’s amazing how time flies and things remain the same, even while they change every day. I think she wrote it while in high school, yet even today the thoughts are true, as they were over…
We can put a lot of words to explain why we celebrate Easter, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But Paul put it perfectly, roughly 2000 years ago as he wrote to the church in Corinth. This is taken from 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, NET. “For I passed on to you as of first importance what…
Augustus Toplady wrote this hymn, which is included in “The Complete Works of Augustus Toplady,” page 897, under the overall heading “Juvenile Poems on Sacred Subjects.” A subtitle of the section indicates he wrote these hymns between the ages of 15-18. Let’s see, what was I doing at that age? Unfortunately, I wasn’t writing hymns.…
I listened to a podcast recently on Augustus Toplady, and on its completion I thought it would be interesting to pull out a book I bought a long time ago, but has been collecting dust on a bookshelf. The Complete Works of Augustus Toplady, published in 1987, but, from the flyleaf “Printed verbatim from the…
Our church, primarily through our small groups, recently read through a book by Thom Rainer entitled “I Am A Church Member” which talked about the benefits and responsibilities of belonging to a local body of Christians. It covered six primary subjects: I Will Be A Functioning Church Member I Will Be A Unifying Church Member…
Even though William Cowper wrote these words in 18th century England, they still hold true today, in 21st century America, and will continue to hold true whenever and wherever people live. We need only look around us to see things we don’t understand, but know that God is working through them to His plan, and…
