I knew that the Texas economy was bad, but I didn’t realize just how bad until I heard about the Houston oilman who willed two oil wells to his son and got sued for child abuse. We wonder if in this kind of economy the preacher ought to be talking about stewardship, but I think maybe this is the best of all times to tal...
William Carey is generally considered the father of the modern missionary movement. He was raised in a humble home in England and thus didn’t have the privilege of a formal education, but early in his life he learned to enjoy reading, especially about foreign countries and the marvelous people who lived in those countri...
Have you learned through the years that what you don’t know can hurt you? I heard some time ago about a Mexican bandit named Jose Rodriguez, who lived down close to the border. He made regular trips across the Rio Grande to a little Texas town and he would rob the banks and then he would go back across the river.
Would you open your Bibles to the book of Acts 15:36. In the middle of the great Civil War, Bob Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln came to his mother and dad and said he wanted to join the Union forces and to fight for his country. But his mother refused to allow him to do so and his father supported her because they ha...
Deacon Chairman Bob Cox and I were talking and he shared with me that there are three stages or phases that most individuals and most institutions pass through in their lifetime. They begin as risk-takers, they move to become caretakers, and they eventually wind up at the undertakers. If you think about your own life and most...
I was returning from a convention recently and sat next to the late Ramsey Pollard, pastor of the Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He said to me, “Paul, after 47 years in the ministry, it is harder to be the pastor of a Baptist church now than any time in my ministry.”
Evidence everywhere con...
Once we buried a young lady who was only 21 years old. She was killed in a head-on collision while on her way to church. The night before the funeral, my daughter asked why God allows things like this to happen.
I wish I knew. Things like this have puzzled saints, wise men, and philosophers since the world began.
There is simply no one easy answer as to why tragedies like this happen. The answer may lie in the fact that God made us free. He created us with the ability to make our own choices, and choices always involve consequences. If we are careless or foolish in our choices, or if others are, we may suffer because of them. If God did not allow us freedom, we’d be less than people. We’d be robots.
This may be the only explanation we will ever have for some suffering. However, we do not have to know why things happen in order to be victorious over them. On the cross Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) But the heavens were as brass. God was silent. He didn’t even answer his own Son. Jesus might have despaired and become bitter against God. But instead he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend [entrust, hand over] my spirit” (Luke 23:46).
This kind of faith is far more important than any answer we might receive. In our lives, as in the life of Jesus, it is faith that makes the difference between victory and defeat.
So keep believing in God no matter what. Commit your life to him and regardless of what happens, God will help you.