Bright and shiny light bulbs! What an invention the light bulb. Every time I need to see what is in the darkness I can flip that switch and that bulb shines brightly. Yet is that bulb actually shining? Nope, actually the bulb is just protecting the filament that has been carefully placed within the bulb that causes it to shine.
Continue reading “The Element Within!”In today’s bulletin, I want to talk about my beliefs on church activity. Now, let me say right up front that this has drastically changed over the years. There was a time when I believed that a church was failing in its responsibilities if it wasn’t always busy doing something. What we were doing didn’t matter as much as long as the church was doing something. That all changed when I learned the phrase, “Holiness doesn’t equal holiness.” That truth drove me back to the Bible and Jesus as my example. I saw that Jesus was always busy but even then, what he was doing mattered more than simply being busy. He always prioritized people over busyness and if he was interrupted he took the time to see the person and their needs. Just as important, he always took time for himself, rested, and encouraged his disciples to do the same.
Continue reading “Patience, family, and church work.”Today we will wrap up our introduction to the last book of the New Testament. Over the past couple of years, we have covered every book of the Bible and hopefully it has been a blessing to you. Last week, we dealt with the introductory topics like authorship, dating, history, and purpose. Today we’re going to look at the 4 major themes of the book.
Continue reading “An introduction to Revelation part 2”The book of Revelation has always been one of my favorite books in the entire Bible. I have often been asked why and perhaps the reason lies in its focus. Revelation was written near the end of the first century in a time when Christians were being persecuted and dying for their faith in Jesus. To encourage and challenge them to greater faithfulness, Jesus gives John this series of visions to explain our suffering and more importantly remind us of our ultimate victory. Throughout the book the message is always the same: No matter what happens in this life, in the end faithful Christians will stand victorious with Jesus. True to that purpose, this book has always given me hope and courage to keep serving Jesus and His people.
Continue reading “An Introduction to the Book of Revelation”The other day I was reading a email and the writer mentioned Numbers 11:11 which says, “Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?”
This started me to thinking about the answer to Moses question. Why would God allow Moses to carry such a monolithic task? Why would God entrust the success of His great plan of redemption, for all mankind, on this one man?
Continue reading “A New Perspective”The letter of Jude and the person are not well known to modern readers of the Bible. Most have no idea who he was or why his unique letter is even considered Scripture. I call his letter unique because of its contents. In the letter Jude refers to a book called “The Assumption of Moses” and one called “The Book of Enoch.” Do not let this cause you to think they are inspired or even worthy of your time to read them. Jude is simply referencing books that were well-known in this time to make a point about faithfulness and the danger of rebelling against God.
Continue reading “Introduction to Jude”As we begin our new year at Central Haywood we need to think about what we can do to help the church grow. Each of us is important to the overall growth of this church.
Continue reading “Finding your place within the body of Christ.”With today being Christmas day, I want us to reflect on the true message of Jesus, the gospel, and Christmas. Some might be wondering what I am thinking but bear with me and hopefully it will make sense. I have heard the phrase “Keep Christ in Christmas” more times than I care to mention and yet is this really the purpose of Christmas or Christ.
Continue reading “The true message of Jesus, gospel, and Christmas.”Talk about an oxymoron. The epitome of isolation and loneliness connected with what should be the epitome of family, purpose, and belonging. You may disagree with my choice of titles, but chances are, you were taught to be a “lone wolf” just like me. From childhood most of us were taught that all we needed to succeed in life was hard work and determination. We were conditioned to believe that we don’t need anything or anyone to attain our goals in life. We were raised to be lone wolves in life, in work, and perhaps most importantly, in our faith.
Continue reading “Lone Wolf Christianity.”
Central Haywood Church of Christ 