Ecclesiastes 12:10

It had been a very wet year in Iowa in 1909.  Also, that year had seen a boom in sales in automobiles; the Model T had come out that year.  So that winter the citizens of Iowa realized that it sure would be nice if they had a paved road that crossed the state.  To get it accomplished, during the rest of the winter, officials contacted all the communities along the route and had them to get together supplies for construction of an interstate when it got warmer.  On one Saturday in the summer of 1910; everyone went to the road at 9 a.m. sharp and started paving.   One hour later, the road was done, and by evening, all the road signs were up.  It wasn't a terrible rush job either, it was widely recognized as the “standard of the world” and would be the template for all interstates to come. The fact that they'd built a 380-mile-long road in one hour was pretty unbelievable, but even more unbelievable is what happened next.  The convolu...

          He approaches the podium in slow thoughtful walk.  He looks up and in deep stare says “Let’s pray”, even though the man before him just did that.  He softens his voice and pauses at just the right moment to let you know how much more meaningful this prayer is. Then he starts his talk. His message is about him, no Bible story, no focus on the scriptures.  He tells you about his successes, more than you could do, his problems, they are harder than yours, and how he has overcome them, better than you would have.   He gives more sacrificially than you, is a better parent than you, prays more than you, and cares more than you .  Oh, he never comes out and says any of those things, but in a very humble bragging sort of way he get the point across. You see everything everyone else is doing could be fixed if people were more like him.  When he is finished, he doesn't expect you to tell him how g...

In the midst of the Vietnam War AP correspondent Peter Arnett wrote about the destruction of Bến Tre City during a battle on February 7 th 1968.  He cited an unidentified U.S. military official response to the question of why the village was destroyed. His answer was simple, 'It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it '. The paradox of this statement is only explainable in the fog of war. It seems sometimes in the heat of battle the real sense of purpose gets lost. I see this happen in our efforts to keep false doctrine out of the church. In the battles against false teachers and in the modern culture war, our desire to win overcomes the purpose of Christ. As the battle grows, it becomes more about winning than teaching. The tactics, language and attitudes become as odious as what we stand against.   Some while “contending for the faith” (Jude 1:3), have simply become contentious for the faith. They seek out arguments and viciously tear apart those...

Over all the years of ministry I have done hundreds of Bible studies with people with various different reactions and results.  Some have been joyous, some sad, some frustrating, some comical.  I have at times been at a loss for words for how to respond to a person. Once on a campaign, I studied with a man that has recently had his wife leave him for another man. In spite of being the innocent party, her divorce lawyer had taken him to the cleaners. He was heartbroken and bitter about the ordeal and was looking to find answers for his life. We studied the scripture together, he began to see how he needed to make his life right with God but he was hesitant to obey.  So we set a follow up study for the next day.             The next day we received word he would not be coming to the study or even to the church again. After he got home he read the brochure we had given him about our campaign. It told about the dire...

       A few weeks ago the nation was in an uprising over a severe national problem, the replacement refs in the NFL.  After several weeks of bad calls culminating in game deciding “missed” call, fans were fit to be tied. As I listened to the throng of opinions, one that I heard disturbed me the most.  The commentator said that while everyone was upset with the league, the buzz it had created was good.  As he quipped, “there is no such thing as bad publicity”.       That is not the only time I have heard this strategy promoted. We have seen in lots of forms of entertainment. Starlets leek their immoral trysts to jump-start careers, Bad boy rockers supplement their image with bad behavior. Political commentators say outrageous things.  All trying to gain publicity by any means necessary.       It might even work, in the short term. What they do not realize however is that the ...