Scharf: That the world may know

Have you ever heard someone pray for you?

The wind is blowing!

When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

Just a thought: your work matters

Do you know your work matters to God? Yes, and it matters to your employer and your co-workers.

Holy Spirit transforms

Do you show evidence of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in your daily life? A look back at the disciples before and after photos gives us some things to look for in our own personal lives.

Thanks again, Mom!

How can I describe the emotions of parents who love their children? We stamp a remarkable similarity in heart and in appearance on the character of small children. This is especially true of mothers, who have even more sympathy than fathers toward the feelings of their children because they gave birth to them in great pain.

An ounce of mother

There's an old Spanish proverb: "An ounce of mother is worth a ton of priest." So, on this Mother's Day weekend, let's thank God for many ounces of godly mothers.

McCoy: Always follow the true leader

Do you remember playing games when you were younger? I love to watch children play Simon Says or Follow the Leader.

Scharf: Listen to the shepherd’s voice

McCOY: Don't get tired of doing good

I pray that your love will keep on growing and that you will fully know and understand how to make the right choices. Then you will still be pure and innocent when Christ returns. And until that day, Jesus Christ will keep you busy doing good deeds that bring glory and praise to God.

Scharf: Peace in everything

Peace be with you. That's one of those things churchgoers hear all the time. So how is it working for you? Is there peace in your world?

Burnham: All in your head

You have heard it said, "It's all in your head." Well, it is true. Every battle is first fought in the mind.

McCoy: Come on home

After this, I saw a large crowd with more people than could be counted. They were from every race, tribe, nation, and language, and they stood before the throne and before the Lamb.

Scharf: I love to tell the story

"I love to tell the story of unseen things above, of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story because I know it's true; it satisfies my longings as nothing else can do."

Burnham: We do have something to do

It is wonderful God saves us from the penalty of sin and by his victory at Calvary, he frees us from sin's power.

McCoy: Share the good news

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done.

Parson to Person: Don’t mess with the ingredients

Psalm 19:7-11 reads, "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much ...

Parson to Person: E plurabus unum?

Alexis de Tocqueville, (July 29, 1805-April 16, 1859) wrote, "I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast world of commerce, and it was not there. Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame ...

Parson to Person: Should God bless America?

"Doing what is right makes a nation great, but sin will bring disgrace to any people" (Proverbs 14:34, NCV).

Parson to Person: The Bible judged too harshly by historians

In my recent articles we have been discussing the subject of truth - what it is and how we can know it. In this vain we have looked at philosophically accepted tests for truth and have discovered that Jesus claimed to be truth itself. Know him and you'll know truth. Why is it then that modern men have such a difficult time with this subject? Why do we insist on making truth elusive? Why do ...

Parson to Person: Jesus did not teach truth, he is truth

In last week's article we discussed three philosophical tests for truth. Truth cannot be self-contradictory, it must fit with the known facts, and finally it must work in life.

Parson to Person: Three tests that can prove the truth

Last week I mentioned in my article that my job was simply to present truth - what you do with it is up to you. But, like Pontius Pilate, many respond scornfully, "What is Truth?" For Pilate that wasn't a sincere question of an inquirer looking for truth; it was the statement of a cynic who doubted that there could be any truth.

Parson to Person: Jesus a personal savior, not a sage human

A few weeks ago, I quoted the last of the great Princeton Theologians J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937), "that there is no such thing as liberal Christianity. There is Christianity and then there is liberalism." It appears from at least one response (for which I am certainly grateful) that I should have been a little more careful in defining my terms. Unfortunately, space constraints do not always allow me to say everything I ...

Parson to Person: Are we falling back into superstitious dark ages?

Can you believe we are nearly half-way through another year? When I thought of that fact the lament of Jeremiah 8:20 came to my mind: "'The harvest is finished, and the summer is gone,' the people cry, 'yet we are not saved!'" (NLT).

Parson to Person: No such thing as a liberal Christian

In his "Breakpoint Commentary" of May 19, 2009, Chuck Colson commented that "On Sunday, President Obama delivered his controversial and much-awaited speech at Notre Dame. I found little surprising about the speech itself. Not that I agreed with it - far from it. What I mean is that the speech was what I and anyone who has followed the president's political career should have expected: he has repeatedly affirmed the position that ...

Mother’s Day everyday

Sunday is Mother's day. It appears that a day honoring mothers dates back to ancient history. Our modern official holiday was begun by Anna Marie Jarvis. According the historical record Ms. Jarvis swore at her mother's grave-site in 1905 to dedicate her life to her mother's project, and establish a Mother's Day to honor mothers, living and dead.

Postmodern contradictions

Philosopher and Statesman Edmund Burke (1729-1797) is credited with saying, "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." Albert Einstein defined insanity as "doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results."

Discerning the essence of Christianity

"My dear friends, don't believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world," (1 John 4:1, The Message).

The brother of the Prodigal Son

Before we broke for my Easter article, we had been in a series looking at Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son. We've seen the prodigal leave home in a hunt for hedonistic pleasures. We walked with him as his dreams turned to ashes. We traveled with him as he took the long journey home. We marveled at the father's reception and restoration of this wayward son. We explored various applications of this parable ...

The Prodigal Son heads home

We've been exploring the parable of the Prodigal Son in our last few articles. We've walked with this boy as his dreams drove him from home, and we stayed with him when those dreams turned to dust. Friendless, penniless and hungry, the prodigal finally "came to his senses" and headed home. In our last column we saw that his motives for heading home were not all that noble. His heart didn't lead him home, his ...

Coming to your senses

Over these last few weeks my articles have centered on the parable of the prodigal son. The Biblical reference for that parable is Luke 15:11-32. As we've looked at and sought application to this account in this series of columns so far, we have seen the boy reject everything in hopes of gaining everything with the result that he lost everything. That's pretty much where we left him.