flynn034

 "Preacher, exactly what was it you were trying to say last Sunday morning?" I doubt that any remark could be more depressing to a preacher who takes his preaching efforts seriously. Yet, I am convinced that the criticism implied in the above comment is widespread and well deserved. It cannot be doubted that most, if not all, that we have to say in a sermon is true, good, and important. The problem is that there is no coherence to all of it. The hearer cannot put his finger on the exact thrust of the sermon and, hence, is not sure what to do with it all.                 It is evident that' one of the best ways to avoid this problem is for the preacher to settle on a sermon thesis before he begins to develop his sermon outline. A sermon thesis is a one-sentence statement of the point that the preacher wants to make. If a preacher cannot summarize his sermon in one clearly worded statement, then he d...

    So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. 6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable t...

  " CERTAIN MEN CREPT IN UNNOTICED "   In his brief, one chapter, but extremely important letter, Jude exhorted his readers to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).  "The faith" is the full, complete, and final revelation from God to man by Christ through the gospel as set forth in the New Testament.  In it God has revealed all that He has done for mankind's redemption from sin and all that man must do in order to establish and maintain a right relationship with God.  It is the "one faith" (Ephesians 4:5).   In the next verse of his epistle Jude explained why it is so important for Christians to earnestly contend for the faith.  He says, "For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude 4, New King James Version).   ...

Breaking the Barrier Imagine not being able to hear. You can't hear the voices of your loved ones. You can't hear the birds sing. You can't hear music. Because you can't hear, you find it almost impossible to communicate. It's difficult to inform others how you feel or even that you need help. That's a little bit of what it is like to be deaf. The difficulty in communicating is what causes many deaf people to be isolated, alone, and neglected. That's why Poppy O'Guin Steele has made it her life's mission to be an advocate for deaf children. "Her actions prove even louder than her words, whether spoken by mouth or signed by hand" writes Ken Beck in a recent article in The Christian Chronicle. "She founded the Sign Club Co. in 2012. Since then the organization, based in Tennessee's Sumner County, has taught sign language to more than 1,800 youngsters, with Steele teaching about 900 of them herself." "Our No. 1 goal is...

Mark 4:35-41 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” [Note “Have you still no faith.”  For more rebukes re faith, see 7:18; 8:17f.,21,32f.; 9:19. DC] Dear Partner in Preaching, What moves us from fear to fait...

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  But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in ...

  There is nothing more fragile in life than life itself (Job 14:1-2; Isaiah 38:12). We are mortals and as such the day is coming when in just a moment of time we will lay aside this earthly tabernacle and take that journey from whence we will not return. Our hearts should be set on the wonderful city of God, that's the place we should be calling home (Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 2:11). One of our grand old songs says it so well: "This world is not my home--I'm just passing through--My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue--The angels beckon me from heaven's open door--And I can't feel at home in this world anymore."   Yes, the day will come when this physical body will cease to exist but that will not mark the end of our existence (2 Cor. 5:1; 1 Cor. 15). The truth is that every step we take in this life just bring us a little closer home and one day we will take that last earthly step. If our love for the world is so great that we spend our lives sowing the...

Life-giving Water "La tranble" — a Creole term for "the shaking" – is the term Haitians use to refer to what claimed 230,000 lives and left 1.5 million people homeless on this impoverished island in the Caribbean. After "la tranble," Healing Hands International, a humanitarian-based aid organization associated with Churches of Christ, bought a drilling rig and shipped it to Haiti. Healing Hands has drilled 350 wells on the island to help provide clean water for the Haitians. Janice Fuller — a 67-year-old grandmother of four — coordinates the annual Walk4Water fundraiser sponsored by the Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ in Austin, Texas to help Healing Hands. She recently joined a group that traveled to Haiti to drill another well. "I just think how incredible this is," Fuller said. "These people were drinking dirty water for so long, and now they have a place to come get clear, clean water because people cared enoug...

The Winning Word Imagine being asked to spell "bewusstseinslage." That's the word that Naysa Modi from Frisco, Texas misspelled causing her to place second in the Scripps National Spelling Bee this past Thursday. I wouldn't have been able to spell it correctly. I don't ever remember hearing the word much less knowing what it means. Merriam Webster states that the word comes from the field of psychology and it means "a state of consciousness or a feeling devoid of sensory components." Using the word in this article is probably the only time I will ever use it! Did you hear what the winning word was in the Spelling Bee? The word was "koinonia." Karthik Nemanni, 14, of McKinney, Texas spelled this word correctly to become the 91st champion of the spelling competition. Hey, I know this word! If asked, I could have spelled it correctly! I could have won the competition! No, I wouldn't; I can't spell "bewusstseinslage" and pr...