In a recent video several interesting factors came to light.  The author made several points that have direct implications to being successful as a Christian.  He noted the top ten things that successful people do.

1. Successful people believe in the law of income.  Here, he stated that successful people focus on providing value instead of simply effort...  As Christians, we must definitely put forth an extraordinary effort.  However, we must even more focus on providing value in our and others' lives.

When we talk about having perspective, we know that we are talking about how we’re able to view a particular subject from a point of view that may not be how we initially viewed it. Getting a proper perspective means that we take an honest look at the way things really are and not just see what we want to see. The proper perspective comes, when we see the larger picture. We sometimes become weary and disgusted, because we are only focusing on part of the picture. Taking a bigger view…

When I was young, I took piano lessons, and after a while I started to get to the point where I could play real songs.  In our piano bench (like every other piano bench at the time) was a storage bin that would contain a smorgasbord of random sheet music.  You never knew what you might find!  In my house, it turned out there was quite a bit of 70’s pop music available:  “You Light Up My Life,” the theme from “The Young And The Restless,” and other milquetoast offerings were…

When Jesus was asked concerning divorce in Matthew 19, His immediate reply serves as the most concise statement made concerning marriage in all the Bible. Jesus said:

“Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 8:26). “Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 22:2). Bible critics love to point to such numerical discrepancies and conclude that the Bible is full of errors.

It is certainly agreed that Ahaziah could not have been both forty-two and twenty-two at the same time! Before we conclude, however, that we have found a “mistake” in the Bible, we should note that there is a difference between a contradiction among Biblical…

We preachers have just been much too hard on thieves and thievery. We have spent way too much pulpit time condemning theft when we could have been preaching on understanding, love and tolerance for thieves. We have instead insisted upon telling people that stealing is a sin and that they shouldn't behave that way.

Now, I know what the Bible says about stealing. One of the ten commandments given to the nation of Israel was “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). Of course, the Law of Moses was fulfilled by Jesus and we don't live under that law any more.…

In the 1940's Elmer T. Clark observed that is "a peculiar type of mind which is convinced that God is interested in whether his worshipers sing with or without instrumental music" (Small Sects in America, p. 16). Clark's words carry a twentieth century bias. The truth is that the mind which he thought so peculiar was once dominant in "Christian" thought. The use of musical instruments in the worship of the churches is a relatively recent development. Most Protestant churches in America did not yield to the practice until the nineteenth century.

The unadorned simplicity of…

But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him” (Habakkuk 2:20). 

How often have we heard these words read or sung at the beginning of a service? The silence 

enjoined by Habakkuk is not a literal silence but the silence of submission and acceptance which 

would not dare to voice any question or complaint against God.

There is, however, great value in literal silence—a value our generation may well have 

forgotten. In these days of roaring traffic, noisy factories, humming household appliances and 

megawatt stereos, an unexpected moment of silence can be…

What is the purpose of the Lord's church? Is it to eradicate poverty, disease, social injustice, illiteracy from among men? Is it to bring about a cessation of war and conflict? Is it to campaign for a temptation-free society for Christians to live in?

If the church had as one of its great goals the eradication of disease, the Lord could have easily equipped it to accomplish that goal. Could not the same power that enabled one blind man to see have enabled all blind man to see; that enabled one lame man to walk have…