Articles
Disconnect to Get Connected
One way to connect with other people is to disconnect from technology from time to time. I’m a techie, and I love my gadgets. But a few years ago, I became a reluctant convert to the discipline of disconnecting. The insidiousness of having work with me wherever I...
A Message To Pastors About Using Film in Church
This post was originally featured on www.cityonahillstudio.com. Pastor Resources is reposting it here in hopes that it will be useful to our pastors. In the movie, The Father of the Bride, Steve Martin tells his daughter, Annie, she should put her jacket on because...
How to Overcome Writer’s Block Once and for All
by Jerry Jenkins You well know the frustration. It comes time to write, and you can’t produce a single word. Maybe you’ve tried for weeks, months, or even years. But still nothing comes. You’re suffering the dreaded Writer’s Block while your writing dream, your story,...
As Easter Approaches, Story of Judas Iscariot Reminds Christians To Never Give Up On Their Faith
Author & Pastor Colin S. Smith Presents Narrative of the Ultimate Betrayal In New Book, Heaven, So Near – So Far: The Story of Judas Iscariot CHICAGO, Ill., March 1, 2018— “I came as close to heaven as a person can be, without getting in.” So begins the compelling...
Men, It’s Time to Leave A Life-Giving Legacy
Men, It’s Time to Leave A Life-Giving Legacy. “Get rid of your junk or move!” Those unsettling words were spoken years ago when a village near Chicago took action against one of its families. The family had a business at their home—collecting, storing and selling...
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. (Ephesians 6:10 NIV) Human strength is relative. One person may be considered strong until compared to a professional weight lifter. The professional weight lifter’s strength is weak compared to that of an ox....
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. (Proverbs 3:9-10 NIV) We will not truly honor God until we honor Him with our wealth. This is because...
BUT GOD: Retrospective on my Daughter’s Suicide – Part 2
[This post is continued from Darlene Franklin's post BUT GOD: Retrospective on my Daughter’s Suicide - Part 1. Here she enumerates the ways in which God remained faithful and provided in her grief over her daughter Jolene's suicide.] BUT GOD: Retrospective on my...
“Praise the Lord who has given rest to his people, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises he gave . . .” (1Kings 8:56 NIV). “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ.” (2Cor. 1:20). Generally, we don’t...
“Is not My word like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?” (Jeremiah 23:29 NASB) There will always be obstacles in the way of your dream. Having vision, goals, plans, and promises doesn’t move the bramble and boulders obstructing your...
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17). The Father gives us the Holy Spirit to do in and for us what Jesus did in and through His disciples. The Holy Spirit is our counselor...
“Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth” (Psalm 73:25 NASB). Disappointments are a fact of life. The more we accept this fact, the less disappointed by disappointments we’ll be. One of the major problems with the health and wealth,...
“The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied” (Psalm 16:4a NASB) Our hearts are often torn between the god we want and the God that is. Our sorrows increase when we opt for the god we want over the God that is because serving the god we...
“I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:3b NIV) “Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (1Thessalonians 4:18b NASB) My mom was a stay at home mom. But, there was a brief period when I was around four or five...
“But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions (Matthew 19:22 NLT). The problem for this young man was not that he possessed possessions, but that his possessions possessed him. Jesus is a good shepherd that calls us to follow Him....
BUT GOD: Retrospective on my Daughter’s Suicide – Part 1
BUT GOD: Retrospective on my Daughter’s Suicide By Darlene Franklin My daughter, Jolene, committed suicide ten years ago this March. My world still stops for a few seconds when I say those words. I still feel the enormity of the loss, the emptiness left in her wake....
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34 NASB). Jesus loved us by laying down His life for us. This is how we’re to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. We cannot love each...
“For the word of God is . . . sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitude of the heart.” (Hebrew 4:12b) Destructive thoughts and negative attitudes cannot exist in a...
“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle” (Psalm 144:1 NASB) Prayer is more than just asking God for things. It is the battlefield where we apply our spiritual armor (Eph. 6:10-18). We are at war and prayer is the warfare....
“For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12b NIV). Jesus + our sins = His death on a cross. Jesus + 3 days in the grave = the keys to death and Hades. Jesus + resurrection = our justification. Jesus + nothing = our...
