Church Blog

Revenge, retaliation, to avenge, to get even – these are all synonyms for settling the score with someone who did us wrong. And pay-back can be sweet, can’t it? Often it’s not a matter of getting even when we’ve been hurt or mistreated, in our anger and pain we want to get ahead. One wonders how many marriages have been devastated, how many families have been divided and how many friendships have been broken because someone felt they had a…

Religion that is not heart-felt is no religion at all! To those who might feel compelled to offer criticism by suggesting that members of the church do not believe in heart-felt religion, please be reminded of these simple truths from God. The Necessity of Heart-Felt Religion Do the words of the inspired, Solomon, come to mind? He would write, “…for as he thinks in his heart, so it he,” Proverbs 23:7. Jesus would make it clear that all that we…

In last week’s bulletin, we noted 5 ways to approach the word of God. Here’s 5 more. 6. Approach the Bible Studiously. Think of Bible study as digging for gold, diving for pearls and as excavating for the purpose of building one’s life. A great relationship with the Lord does not occur without gaining skill in the ability to handle God’s word. It’s all about being “approved” by God or our being “ashamed.” 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Do your best…

Recently I was asked by a godly shepherd how to encourage someone to really learn to love and get into Scripture. Here’s the first part of the response, given in the hope that it may help someone else too. 1. Approach the Bible God-Centeredly. The Bible is a book from God, about God and the relationship He wants to have from you. If the Bible really is from God, shouldn’t it deserve our thoughtful attention to its message? Shouldn’t we…

Our singing workshop is coming up next weekend. Is this really that important? Is it really necessary for us all to really try to be present? How important is congregational singing anyway? May two reminders be offered for your consideration? Congregational singing draws the children of God closer to our Heavenly Father James 4:8 reminds us that as we draw near to God, He in turn draws near to us. In the preceding verse, James says that if we resist…

In 1875, the religious world was blessed with the hymn written by Philip P. Bliss. It is one that can easily be sung with both a great smile and a tear in the eye. The words should cause a great stir of different emotions as they are pondered for all the reasons we can sing, Hallelujah! What a Savior! Consider the five stanzas and the great reminders they provide for our wonderful Savior. Stanza one: “Man of Sorrows,” what a…

What a message we’re privileged to proclaim as Christians. God has the power to take away sin (John 1:29). He can remove guilt and cleanse our consciences (Rom. 8:33-34; Heb. 9:14; 10:22). Jesus the “Great Physician” can provide true healing for those who hurt. Surely these are truths we must believe, humbly and lovingly apply, and tell to the whole world! The Old Testament often beautifully depicts the vividness and power of forgiveness ultimately made possible in Jesus. Consider the…

Everyone has priorities and values; the real question is – in whom or what do we place them? It’s so easy to believe like a theist and to live like a deist. It’s easy to believe in the real and personal God of Scripture yet to live our life, at least at times, as though He’s distant, aloof, uninvolved and uncaring. In thinking like this worry can run rampant. Worry is a subtle temptation for so many of us, but…

It is a thought that should be a source of great joy and comfort – the church belonging to Jesus was in the mind of God from eternity! God was not caught off-guard when the crown of His creation, Adam and Eve, would make the choice to disobey and bring sin into the world. God knew that provisions would need to be made in reconciling the relationship that sin had broken between Himself and mankind. He knew that redemption would…

It’s safe to say there’s no richer book in all the New Testament than Ephesians. It often has been noted that the first three chapters of Ephesians says a great deal about a Christian’s wealth in Christ (cf. 1:3; 2:4-7). At the beginning of chapter four, Paul really starts to stress the importance of the Christian’s walk (4:1,17; 5:2, 8,15). And the reason why is quite simple – belief strongly influences behavior. Due to the remarkable riches that have been…

A few years back, our shepherds suggested Cherie and I do a Marriage Seminar here at Westside. Westside hasn’t had one in quite a while. If memory serves properly, John and Carla Moore conducted our last one about 6 years ago. Cherie and I last did one at Westside 13 years ago. Admittedly we are older now, but we hope we won’t be too out of touch, out of date or out of sharing our amazement of what God-centered marriage…

Showers of Blessings – That’s the theme of our Gospel Meeting with John Gooch beginning on Sunday. And the theme really does say a lot about what our Gospel Meeting on October 6-9 holds for us. I did some study of rain in the Bible and the expression “Showers of Blessings” took on even greater meaning. When Paul and Barnabas were at Lystra they taught about God saying, “Yet He did not leave himself without witness, for He did good…