Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

I once read an address delivered by Dr. Douglas Freeman at the dedication of the library at the University of Florida. Dr. Freeman was for many years the editor of the Richmond News Leader and the author of a Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Robert E. Lee. At the close of his address he made a rather startling observation that the most important thing ab...

Running can be good for you—both physically and spiritually. The apostle Paul expresses this truth when he wrote to Timothy, “Flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness” (1 Timothy 6:11). The word flee means “to run away from.” The word follow means “to run swiftly af...

Troubles take many forms in our lives. Sometimes they take the form of illness or death. Sometimes they take the form of financial losses or disappointments. Whatever their form, troubles do come and it's our attitude toward them that is most important. Trouble can make us bitter or better, depending on our attitude. How are we to react to problems? I offer thre...

The fear of death is one of the greatest fears we face. Saul Bellow, the famous novelist said, “The real problem is the problem of death. If people don’t know how to come to terms with it, souls have no preparation. Then the only thing is to be eternally young and in pursuit of pleasure and further sexual and hedonistic horizons.” English essayi...

You could go on and on with the excuses, the reasons that people give for not witnessing. But the bottom Iine is that if we do not share our faith with other people, we simply lack the motivation that we ought to have. I am persuaded that witnessing and sharing your faith with another person ought to be the spontaneous result of being converted to Jesus Christ. When w...

Some years ago I was preaching on stewardship and there sat in the service two men who had two entirely different responses to the sermon. One of them was angered and incensed. The other one was moved and blessed and helped by it didn’t say anything to me that day, but later pointed to that day and that sermon when he shared his testimony about tithing years lat...

One of the tragedies of people being cold and indifferent spiritually is that they spread their spirit everywhere and to everyone. Let me illustrate. I was talking with a fellow pastor one day and he mentioned a “bucket committee” in his church. I replied, “Bucket committee? I have never heard of such a thing. I thought our church had every committe...

Everyone needs to know how to deal with other people’s sins. Daily we are affected by them and they cause us many a crisis and much misery. We are never free from the wrongs caused by others, and they are never free from the wrongs caused by us. Sometimes the sins of others touch us directly. A business partner turns out to be dishonest; your husband is unfaith...

St. Augustine wrote, “God had only one Son without sin; he has no sons without suffering.”  Likewise, the Apostle Paul, one of God’s most faithful servants, had to live with intense physical pain. Three times he asked God to relieve it but it was not taken away. However, he does not surrender to a negative attitude of self-pity. There is no not...