God’s Work: Soul Work

Colossians 1:15-28 A mysterious, invisible force produced an unusual community event in April, 1994 in Cuylerville, New York. Residents awakened one morning to find the community sinking. Huge sinkholes began to form when a nearby salt mine collapsed. Portions of...

Following Orders

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 The mission is crucial to the war. The commanding officer stands before his troops. Every ear is attentive ready for his orders. Each soldier is apprized of the situation. The situation is desperate. Every soldier understands fully that his role and is...

At The Starting Line

Acts 2:1-21 In high school I enjoyed running on the track team. As the official gave us directions at the starting line, I vividly recall the adrenaline pumping through my veins at the beginning of each race. He would slowly call out three phrases in an elongated, deliberate...

Good Intentions, Bad Circumstances, And God’s Will

Acts 16:9-15 In Chris Thurman's book, Truths We Must Believe, he relates the story of the great college football coach, Paul "Bear" Bryant, and his gifted Alabama team losing a football game to a smaller school with a much less talented squad. After the game, Coach...

Nudging The Church In The Right Direction

Acts 11:1-18 The church did not go readily into the Gentile world. It didn't make sense to them. Even if God would accept the Gentiles, he surely did not mean for Jew and Gentile to worship together. In his effort to nudge the church along, God chose to open the...

When The Bad Must Yield To The Good

Acts 9: 36-43 It has puzzled human beings from the beginning of time itself. Why does God allow bad things to happen? The question is asked in one of the oldest books of the Old Testament, the book of Job, as well as the New Testament's last book, the book of...

Branded

Galatians 5:1, 13-25 The story is told about the Texas rancher who spent half a day showing off his giant spread, created by the acquisition of ten smaller ranches. His guest inquired, "What do you call your ranch?" "It's the Lazy R, Salty Creek, Broken Arrow, Double...

All For One, The One’s For All

Galatians 3:23-29 As the Presidential political campaign heats up we will hear a great deal about "wedge" issues. Issues that divide according to political ideology, culture, race, socio-economic status, gender, and sexual orientation abound. Republicans and Democrats accuses each...

Glimpses Of Grace

Galatians 2:15-21 Phillip Yancy, in What's So Amazing About Grace, tells a heart-breaking story of a social worker's interaction with a prostitute in the inner city. The woman was so desperate that she sold her two-year-old daughter to men for an hour at a time because she...