Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, 26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of...

The excuses that people give for not attending church are abundant. They are also pretty shallow when carefully examined. I am sure you would agree that the same excuses people use for not attending church would be absurd if the preacher tried to use them as reasons for not attending a sports event.  Consider these common excuses for not attending church as reas...

9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.  Introduction Bishop Keyes once said, “We need to recover and maintain the balance between ‘red hot evangelism’ and down-to-earth religious education.” The fact is that these two cannot be separated. Evangelism without discipleship is incomplete ev...

  Living together in peace and harmony is one of the greatest challenges of life. Whether it is in the home, the neighborhood, or the office where you work, good personal relationships are vital to a happy, productive life. The apostle Peter gives us five principles that will help us to live together happily in any of these places (1 Peter 3:8-9).   &n...

“My parents made me go to church when I was a child.” That’s the excuse some people give for not going to church. If they were honest, they’d quit blaming their parents and admit that they don’t go to church because they don’t see any need for it. Their parents made them do a lot of other things they haven’t quit doing. They...

The biggest personal problem of our day is loneliness. Paul Tournier, a Swiss psychiatrist, called it the most devastating malady of our age. It is, according to some experts, reaching epidemic proportions. Loneliness and aloneness are not the same. Loneliness is not the absence of people. It is the absence of deep and meaningful relationships. It is the feeling of b...

What is prayer? First, it is asking God for what we need. Jesus taught us to ask for things (Luke 11:2). If God is really our father and we are really his children, it cannot be wrong to ask him for things. Second, it is praising God for who he is. Jesus often turned to God for gifts, but at times he turned to him just for the sake of fellowship. Prayer is not...

Someone said, “God made the country, man made the city, and the devil made the small town.” He could have had your town in mind. Most people at one time or another contribute to the spread of idle gossip and groundless rumors. Rare indeed is the person who will let such information end with his hearing. While most people participate in rumors about others...

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...