Lately I have been enjoying visiting my 6-month old nephew. When he gets tickled by a noise I make or the tilt of my head or even how I speak to him, his face lights up and then that beautiful smile of his appears and spreads a warmth across my heart. It is irresistible. I delight in those times even more than he does. I will peer around some obstruction, our eyes will meet, and that wonderful connection between just the two of us magically happens: he sees me, and I see him, and an invisible li

Part 1 

This article begins a series on God’s rightful place in America. If you have faith in God then you owe it to yourself to read this because whether you know it or not faith in God is under attack. One of the things I enjoyed most about moving to Tennessee a decade ago was seeing so many people open about their faith in God. I pray it stays that way.

Part 2 

Last week I began a series of articles about whether God belongs in public life in America. The sad truth is that America has lost its way. I believe the worst of it began in 1963 with Madalyn Murray O'Hare and her case of Murray v. Curlet which ultimately ended with the removal of prayer in schools. The spiritual beacon of Christianity in our nation has since gone dark. Hardly a week goes by without the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) bringing some insane law suite against a p

Part 3 - Authority

"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience sake." Romans 13:1, 5

For 50 years now our government has -- like the proverbial frog in the slowly boiling pot of water -- either enacted or allowed to be enacted laws and precedents that have been removing God from all areas of public life. Whet

Part 4 - Politics and Religion

I fully expect that what I have to say this time will raise the ire of a number of people. The reason I say that is because a lot of us don't want to hear the truth, especially when it is about our nation and about us. Nevertheless this is a subject that I cannot dance around.

Theme: Obedience to God’s Word is the well-traveled pathway to blessing.

Introduction: Most of us think that uninhibited, unrestricted, unbridled divine blessing is itself the highest reward one can experience in life, yet many people do not enjoy such blessing; which begs the question, “Why not?” Psalm 119:1-8 shows how uninhibited divine blessing comes from taking as much advantage of Scripture as is possible.

I. The Way (v. Psalm 119:1-3)

A. Making Progress
The Hebrew w

A good word study of scripture will do wonders for your understanding. The main thing is to do all the grunt work for yourself - FIRST. Then, when you've done a thorough word study, check with various reputable commentaries to check your own work.

The very first confession Craig Groeschel makes in his book, "Confessions of a Pastor: Adventures in Dropping the Pose and Getting Real with God" is "I can't stand a lot of Christians." Boy did that hit home with me! If I am going to be honest with both God and you, then I have to admit the same confession. There are a lot of Christians who drive me right up the wall. As Craig said,I love Christ. It's His followers who make me crazy.

Why study Biblical languages? A speaker using Greek words in a sermon or teaching generally only makes the listener feel the one speaking has an inflated ego. The answer is quite simply that it helps to make for betterr understanding. For example, this paraphrase of John 1:1-5 at the end of this article was part of a lexical Greek class assignment. It was the result of reading it in the Greek and extracting more meaning from the familiar passage. (The Koine Greek language was extremely rich and ...
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