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...

Here is a typical day for any pastor in America today. Received a telephone call from a young lady who recently married outside of her faith. She is now having trouble from both sides of the family.  Worked on a funeral sermon for a dear friend who passed away. Visited with a young couple. They are new here in town. She is lonely. Her parents live in a distant...

In his book Life’s Sentence, Chuck Colson says this: “We humans obviously have a problem of maintaining a steady level of spiritual fidelity. One solution is the continual checking and encouragement of a Christian friend.” He came to that conclusion when he was going to his first television interview concerning his book Born Again. He began to realiz...

A Marxist and a Christian were debating. As they presented their philosophies, a shabbily dressed man passed by. The Marxist said, “Communism can put a new suit on that man.” Then the Christian replied, “Yes, but Christ can put a new man in that suit.”  No one else can make people new like Jesus Christ can. How so? Jesus gives us a new m...

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...

One of my favorite sayings is, “God doesn’t want any homeless children.” I mean by that, if you’re a Christian you need to have a church home. If you’re going to be a part of God’s family in heaven you need to be a part of a church family on earth.  "But," you say, “there are too many hypocrites in the church.” You...

Does going to church matter? Let’s ask Henry Brinton, former pastor of Fairfax Presbyterian Church in Virginia. He once wrote of a U.S. president’s church attendance, “Politically, church attendance is a sign of integrity. If the president says he’s a Christian, then going to church shows that he doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the w...

The first thing in all creation that God named as not being good was loneliness. He said of Adam whom he had created, “It is not good for man to be alone.” It’s as true now as it was then. Maybe you remember the song by Elvis Presley, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”  He sang that song with such feeling that it was one of his longest runn...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor/theologian who was executed by Adolph Hitler for participating in a plot to kill the Führer. In a biography of his life, he describes Christ as a man “for others.” Then he reminds us that the church, as the body of Christ on earth, is a community in which Christ dwells and like Christ himself, exists &l...