EDITOR’S NOTE: Ron Merrell and I are each other’s biggest cheerleaders. This article comes from a message he preached several years ago during a verse-by-verse expository series on the Book of Exodus. I loved it so much, I’ve been pestering him to convert his sermon notes into an article here for months now. Due to his incredibly busy… Read More »
12 years ago, the Town of Prescott Valley (the small Northern Arizona community in which I live), erected an annual memorial to the victims of 9/11 called “Healing Fields.” The memorial covers the entire grounds of our civic center’s plaza. Each flag planted into the lawn represents a victim on that day of infamy. Each flag bears a… Read More »
One dragon constantly rearing its ugly head within the Body of Christ these days is spiritual immaturity. Anyone encountering the abysmal quality of social-media discourse regarding any aspect of Christianity will agree my statement is absolutely true. There, I have both witnessed and experienced some of the most vile abuse ever uttered by those proclaiming themselves to be… Read More »
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I binge-watched Season 4 of The Chosen. In general, I tend to thoroughly enjoy this series. I have few, if any, problems with their portrayal of events actually recorded in the Gospels, including its accounts of miraculous healings. On the other hand, I do have a serious problem with Dallas… Read More »
The longer I’ve been alive and serving Jesus, the more and more I am captivated by our Heavenly Father’s character, especially His goodness and grace. Apart from His loving mercy, it is almost certain I would not have survived long enough to become an author lo these 13+ years ago, much less write this article today. Back in… Read More »
My wife and I recently binge-watched a so-called “faith-based” dramatic TV series on Amazon Prime Video entitled “The Baxters” (not to be confused with the 1970s ABC sitcom by the same name). As of this writing, there are 3 seasons consisting of 34 episodes. Whether there will be further seasons or not has yet to be announced. From… Read More »
Introduction Several years ago, our church’s guest speaker was a former pastoral staff member, a Calvinist-Baptist minister closely aligned with John MacArthur and John Piper doctrinally. His message centered on the illness, death, burial, and raising-from-the-dead of Lazarus in Bethany recorded in John 11. His sermon remarks opened with the statement “God will disappoint us” and then continued with… Read More »
Happy About Sadness This is a happy read. And yet, how can an article about sadness be happy? It’s the dichotomy of the thing. We’re all happy and we’re all sad. We’re overwhelmed with too much and simultaneously saddled with a sense that we don’t have enough. We’re ready to tackle the day ahead and ready to take… Read More »
