Here are two things I’ve learned (or more accurately, re-learned) about the will of God recently:1. No one else can make your decisions for you.2. No one can guarantee how things will turn out.Last week before we accepted the offer on our home in Tupelo, and as we pondered our own future, I told Marlene that I realized I really wished two thi…
This was in our attic.More accurately, this is part of what was in our attic.Now that we have sold our home in Tupelo, the packing has started in earnest. While Marlene worked on the guest bedroom, I started hauling things down from the attic. After watching many episodes of “Storage Wars,” I was hopeful of finding something extremely v…
People are easily distracted.Preachers need to remember that.During my years pastoring three different churches, I discovered it was easy to get the attention of people in the congregation, but it was almost impossible to hold that attention for very long. We would announce some great new initiative, and for fifteen minutes it was like the second …
How NOT to begin a sermon:"I’m sorry I didn’t have time to prepare.” (Don’t tell us. Let us figure that out on our own.)"I’ve been busy this week.” (Everyone has been busy this week.)"I have 17 points I’d like to share with you.” (Don’t scare us like that.)"I"m sure …
Not long ago a friend I never met died.I suppose to call him a “friend” would be a stretch because I never met him and never spoke to him. It would be more accurate to say that he was a friend to this ministry and a friend to our China outreach.He was a veteran of World War II who loved the Lord and wanted to see his assets used for Kin…
Recently H. B. Charles Jr. offered some wise counsel about sermon titles. He says that preachers don’t give enough thought to their titles. In this day of extremely short attention spans, a well-thought-out title can be the door that opens the way for a biblical sermon to do its work.Here are three general principles for choosing a good title…
Several months ago we opened our new Anchor Book Depot in Pontiac, IL with 100,000 copies of An Anchor for the Soul. Since then we have shipped out over 18,000 copies to ministries across America. Here’s list of some of the ministries receiving copies of the book: Crisis Pregnancy Center, Reno NVGenesis Pregnancy Care Center, Pottstown PACros…
On Wednesday night I spoke at the campfire service at the Word of Life Campground. Afterward I told Marlene (who stayed in the room babysitting Eli) that the service was stunning in its simplicity. At 8 PM 200+ people gathered on the wooden benches built into the hillside overlooking Andrews Pond. While several young men lit the fire, Jason Perkins…
Consider this a Facebook-focused followup to the Chick-fil-A dust-up earlier this week. A friend wrote saying that she was struggling with certain very unkind things that were posted on her Facebook page. Someone actually put a note on her Facebook page saying that she could take her business elsewhere because he didn’t want to do business wi…
Here’s a story that illustrates the truth that we “should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). Several years ago a woman asked me to pray that her aged mother would come to Christ. We prayed together and went our separate ways. I hadn’t thought about that prayer until I received an email yesterday:Hi Ray,A few years ago…