Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

About a year ago, I was visiting with one of our ladies whose husband was in the hospital dying of cancer. He had entered the hospital just four days after she had returned home from surgery herself. She said that when she learned of his illness and his hospitalization, she became a bundle of nerves.  She could not eat; she could not sleep; she could not do anyt...

The Bible often times uses fire as a symbol of God’s work in us. Jeremiah was called to preach, and he didn’t want to. He said, “I said to myself, ‘I will not proclaim the word of God.’ But God’s word was like a fire inside my bones and I had to preach.” God’s word in you can be like a fire. It has to come out. If God&rs...

Paul said to the church at Thessalonica, “Quench not the Spirit.” That word quench means “to put out.” Some of you worked in the yard yesterday like I did. You were watering the yard and wanted to move the water hose from one flowerbed to another. You didn’t want to go back to the house and cut the water off at the faucet, so you just que...

Kim Linehan was one of the greatest long-distance swimmers in the world. She held the world record in the 1,500-meter freestyle competition from 1979 to 1987. According to her coach Paul Bergen, Kim did endless exercises and swam seven to 12 miles a day. The hardest part of her regimen? “Getting in the water,” she said. If getting in the water is the hard...

Woody Hayes, the former football coach of Ohio State once spoke to a service club in Memphis, Tennessee. In his speech he gave what he considered to be football’s three great lessons: “When you get knocked down, you get up and go again. When you go again, you go as a team. And there is nothing that comes easy that’s worth a dime. I never saw a footba...

1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; 2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; 3 But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according t...

I am told that there are more than 7,000 promises in the Bible. This means that the Bible is a storehouse, a treasure of riches awaiting the exploration of every Christian. These promises are eternal. Solomon, on the occasion of dedicating the Temple of God said, “Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promise...

Gerald Kennedy was talking with a man about a mutual friend who had just been awarded a fine promotion. The friend said, “And it is all the more remarkable and praiseworthy when you realize he has always had to fight his battles with a short-handled stick.” It is a good phrase and an enlightening one. Most of the great men of the Bible and of modern days...

Phillips Brooks once said, “When all that can be said has been said about suffering, there remains a dark mystery that cannot be fathomed.” Anyone who has tried to understand the purpose of suffering knows that to be true. It will be a mystery as long as we live on this earth. In the face of unexplainable suffering, here are a few suggestions to help you:...