When you read Hebrews 11, it is easy to focus on what you might consider the “great” acts of faith. Noah prepared an ark. Moses led the Israelites through the Red Sea on dry land. But there is also a three-word phrase in that chapter that describes the lifestyle of Abraham, the father of the faithful: “dwelling in tents” (11:9).
A tent back then, just like we think of it today, was a temporary shelter. They were made of leather or animal skins or cloth. …
When I was just a little kid, we used to play follow the leader. There was a kid in our neighborhood who was a bully. He ordered all us kids around, and we generally did whatever he wanted us to do. Once in a while he would mount his bike and round up all the kids in the area for a game of follow the leader. You played, whether you wanted to or not. You didn’t dare refuse or you’d be in trouble. So we’d get on our bikes and take out behind…
“Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life’” (John 8:12).
We can think about many metaphorical applications of the Light of Jesus. There is the glory, righteousness, purity, and life of the Father and the Son. In the literal sense, Jesus was also the source of physical light in our world, because in John 1:3 we…
“You be careful!” “Watch out!” “Look where you’re going!” We’ve all heard these or similar warnings for most of our lives. Actually, there is no area of life where the proper use of care is not necessary. We exercise care regarding education, employment, families, our health. And well we should–caution is invaluable in life. We need to be careful.
Being careful in spiritual matters is especially important in that it has a bearing on our eternal destiny. You’d think we would be especially careful about…
“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you...” (John 13:35). Have you ever thought about how Jesus could have finished that sentence? How would His followers be identified? What would be their defining characteristic?
“If you wear a cross?” A lot of athletes wear crosses around their necks, but you better not read their lips when the umpire makes a bad call. “If you put a fish magnet on the back of your car.” I’ve seen some…
It doesn’t seem possible that an entire year has passed since Tim Stevens led the final song of the 39thSouthside Lectures. I remember thinking on that Thursday night, after a week of hearing all the preachers who have been through the training program here, “it can’t get any better than this.” But it can. And it will. How do I know? Because I’ve said that at the end of every lecture program since I’ve been here. Each year is filled with its own special memories of sermons and songs that bring us closer…
The 14th chapter of Matthew is an action-packed chapter. The 36 verses begin with the brutal murder of John the Baptist because he preached the truth (vv 1-12). After hearing this tragic news, Jesus responds by feeling compassion for the multitude that follow him and healing their sick (vv 13-14). What follows is the miraculous feeding of the five thousand (vv 15-21). Later, many other sick are healed by only touching the hem of Jesus’ garment (vv 34-36). In between these two miraculous events is the story of Jesus walking on…
Chameleons are interesting little lizards. We have them on our deck all the time. They live in the plants. When Norma waters, they dart in and out of the greenery as if they don't want a drop to fall on them. They're hard to see because they are the same greenish color as the plants. Sometimes you see them sunning on the deck. When they do, they become, by some natural instinct, the same dingy brown color as the board on which they are reposed. It's an amazing ability. Only those reptiles…
I spent the biggest part of my growing up time on my family’s cotton farm in eastern Lubbock County. After the 1979 season my Grandfather fired me and, in the summer of 1980, I would move to Houston … the firing story will have to hold for another time. While almost 40 years have now passed, I often harken back to those farming experiences. I watched as my Granddad, Uncle Ronny and Daddy worked long hard days with the hope of a successful harvest ever before them as they planned their days,…
I was thinking that an article on worship might be good. One where there is some attention given to what is involved in it–according to the scriptures– and what we need to watch out for. Also, what must understand, and how we can know that God accepts. “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God” (Eccles. 5:1).
First, it might be good if we just think about the concept of worship. Worship is as old as man. As far back as anthropologists have researched,…
As one of the deacons here at Southside, I have been asked to submit a bulletin article in support of our one-year plan centered around the theme of “Come to Jesus.” The topic given to me was “The World Today.”
In this article I am going to be talking in generalizations. I understand that there are always exceptions. I also am going to be concentrating my thoughts on Americans since I have no other experience with any others, so you might as well title this “The United States Today.”
Let’s begin in 2 Timothy 3:1-5: “But realize this, that…
In a sermon several years ago now, Brother Bowman remarked how “Hope is the apparatus that reaches out into our future and affixes itself to that for which we long.” I can still remember how much I liked the way this sounded, I wrote it down immediately and have obviously committed it to memory. It wasn’t until a few more years had passed that what had been a really neat way of framing a concept took on a great deal more significance. My Mother returned to the Lord in 2013 after 40 years away … this expression now had…
It is almost unfair to try and write a discourse on the providence of God in so short a space, seeing that His providence touches every facet of our lives–from here to eternity.
The term has been damaged by mis-use and mis-applications of various sorts. If it can be viewed in our lives, it has to be done mostly retrospectively and not prospectively, seeing that we don’t always know if a certain happening is God’s providence or a “time and chance happens to them all”…
