By Curtis Going It is not often that the Wall Street Journal addresses the subject of revival. But there it was, March 26, 2020, an opinion piece titled “A Coronavirus Great Awakening?” The article began by asking, “Could a plague of Biblical proportions be America’s best hope for a religious revival?”1 The author, Robert Nicholson, described the increased commitment to religious activity in the United States following the grisly events of WWII. He stated that “in the late 1940s, Gallup...

By Paul Pierpoint  As we face the new year, we have no knowledge of what the future may hold. There is a faith we can demonstrate that will bring encouragement no matter what may take place—good or bad.   Psalm 46 is one of my favorite Psalms. I enjoy viewing how the Psalmist finds encouragement, even in the worst of his trials. This Psalm contains some key verses that unlock for us timeless truths that would be good to memorize. (Psalm 46:1–11) 1. The Psalmist describes the need for...

by Norman Wood Recently, my wife and I were privileged to attend the home-going celebration of a saint of God. Over the years I have supplied the pulpit occasionally at the Bible Methodist Church in Cordele, Georgia. Whenever I did, I could count on there being a beaming white-haired sister sitting about three rows from the front on the left-hand side. Her radiant countenance and ready smile would just pull the “preaching” right out of you. This past January she suffered a stroke which...

by Curtis Going Preposition: a word that indicates the location or relation of one person or thing to another person or thing   Consider the following scenario. You are standing beneath a large oak tree in your back yard when suddenly someone yells, “Look out for that rattlesnake!” “Where?!” “On that branch above your head!” How would you know where to look, or, more importantly, how would you know where to run without prepositions? Prepositions communicate essential information to us...

by Paul Pierpoint A number of years ago, a boy came running home to his house after a Sunday morning service and cried to his mother. “Mommy, Mommy, I’ve got a part in the Christmas play.” His mother replied, “What part do you have, Tom?” “I’m one of the three wise guys!” This little bit of humor brings back some memories of my first church and my first experience in preparing a Christmas program. We had some boys who came only to Sunday School. They were not a part of the church. I wanted to...

by Curtis Going The Old Testament book of Nehemiah is incredibly relevant to the New Testament Church! The central figure of the book is Nehemiah, a leader specially qualified and appointed by God Himself to assist in the great work of rebuilding the city of Jerusalem many years after Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army ransacked and destroyed it. Nehemiah was a leader of rare distinction, and a survey of the book that bears his name reveals the outstanding qualities of his leadership....

by Gleason H. Ledyard The Church has many needs today. One of the strongest, a cry that comes from every corner of the globe, is the cry for a man of God. What kind of men does God need today? Let’s take missionary Paul as our example. Scriptures such as I Corinthians 9:9-22 and II Corinthians 11:23-27 show us the man Paul. Painful experiences crowded in on him. There were difficulties and there was torture—times when he was pressed almost beyond measure. Yet the cause of his Lord and the need...

By Randall McElwain Have you ever played the game, “Ain’t It Awful?” If you’ve never played this game, the rules are pretty simple. In conversation, you share something from the news and say, “Ain’t it awful what people are doing today?” Then someone else takes a turn, “And I heard…. Ain’t it awful?”  The game can go for a long time. “Ain’t it awful how Hollywood makes such vulgar movies?” “Ain’t it awful what those liberal judges are doing?” “Ain’t it awful how few people go to church?”...

By Curtis Going One of the most significant relationships recorded in the pages of Scripture is the friendship between the Apostle Paul, missionary to the Gentiles, and a young man named Timothy who was converted under Paul’s ministry and later entered into pastoral service as Paul’s protégé. I and II Timothy record Paul’s direction and instruction to young Timothy. These two books of the Bible serve as an example of a mentoring relationship between a wise, experienced pastor and a young man...