Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

A news article told of an Oklahoma church that had scheduled its Sunday school on Wednesday because, in the pastor’s words, “We’ve become a city of boat owners: with every new lake more people are spending the weekends out of town.” This article pointed out the fact that more people are disregarding the third commandment, which says, “Re...

One day a tall middle-aged man pushed his way through the Christmas crowd and asked a clerk for a compass. She led him to the counter displaying mechanical drawing sets and laid out several instruments. “Oh, I don’t want one that draws circles,” the customer protested. “I want a compass that gives directions.” “Sorry,” came...

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...

We live on a higher level. We look to another world. We dream of a better day. Some years ago, an American tourist visited a very famous Polish rabbi, and as he looked around the apartment of this rabbi, he was astonished at the plainness and simplicity of it. There were just some bookcases full of books over here, a table over there, and a bench in the room. The asto...

Several years ago, I read with great interest a book by Elmer G. Letterman entitled How Showmanship Sells. It is one of those success motivation books with a lot of good philosophy in it. He said, “People come to me oftentimes and ask me for the secret to success.” He continued, “There is no one simple answer to that, but there is one necessary first...

One man said concerning his wife, “My wife has a terrible memory. She never forgets anything.” Another one said, “Every time we argue my wife gets historical.” His friend said, “No, you mean hysterical.” He said, “No, historical. She always brings up the past.” Learning how to forget is important in getting on with being...

Maybe I’ve shared with you the experience of one of the greatest football coaches I’ve ever known. He was the athletic director at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, where I pastored, and he was a small college Bear Bryant. He had the kind of record, disposition, and reputation that Bear Bryant had. Most everybody was afraid of him. But he cam...

Huey P. Long grew up the son of poor Baptist parents in Northern Louisiana. He got some education in the state and then he went to Oklahoma for a semester and went to law school. Dropped out of law school, came back to the state of Louisiana and by the year of 1935, almost owned the state. He started running for office and eventually became the governor of the state...

Have you ever stopped at a motel late at night to get a room and the clerk said to you, “I’m sorry, we have no vacancies”? Overbooked, overcrowded, no room for you. That very well may be what happened that first Christmas. The innkeeper simply had an overcrowded inn and there was no room for Jesus to stay. What Jesus experienced in that first century...