My stepfather was the town garbage man. That didn’t bother me. He was a good man, and it was an honest occupation. He did the rounds in the residential areas as well as the grocery stores and pretty much everywhere else in our small town. In those days, the town garbage man was allowed to bring home things tossed out in the residential areas he served. Every once in a while my dad would even bring home a box of…
Why do so many people who make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ never leave their sinful ways to walk with the Lord? Dare I suggest it’s because they never were saved in the first place? All too often, the gospel is presented as a way of having peace and happiness in your life here on earth, and acceptance into heaven when you die. That is inadequate at best, and dangerous to both the hearer and the preacher. Not…
Proverbs 22:28 ~ “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.“ In his commentary, Matthew Henry explains that “the landmarks, or meer stones, are standing witnesses to every man’s right,” and to move or remove one of them would naturally lead to disputes and fighting. I would like to make another application here. A few years ago I went back to visit my alma mater, for the first time in thirty years. I could not believe all…
I once saw a church fall apart because the leaders tried too hard to return to the old paths, and in so doing, became legalistic and excommunicated a third of their members. Eventually, they were not able to support a pastor. They disbanded within two years of the initial split. Last year I saw another church fall apart because some of the leaders thought it was not important to stay faithful to the old paths, and thought they knew better…