Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

Bob Lilly, the Hall of Fame defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys, in a testimony to our church several years ago said, “On the first day of training camp, Coach Tom Landry said to the squad, ‘My priorities are God, family, and the Dallas Cowboys, and they are in that order.’” Like it is for most of you, my family is near the top of my priori...

Roger Babson, who was for many years America’s foremost statistical expert and adviser on financial affairs, saw parallels between his church and the exchange on Wall Street. He said, "In Trinity Church I can exchange my fears for courage, my worries for faith, my nervousness for patience, and my selfishness for justice, kindness, and the things that really coun...

Some time ago a man just dropped in my office who obviously was despairing of life. It did not take long for me to know that he had virtually come to the end of his rope. He had no meaning, no purpose in existence. I had just been teaching to our church the Roman road of salvation and I decided that I would use that plan of salvation on him. I took that little book of...

When I talk about working in God’s vineyard I do not mean that you are necessarily employed directly by the church. I mean in your chosen vocation, as a doctor, as a lawyer, as a merchant, as a teacher, wherever you work and whatever you do in that capacity. In that office, in that place, you have a marvelous opportunity to labor in the vineyard of God and to be...

The parable of the laborers in Matthew 20 reminds us that it is not too late for you to go to work in God’s vineyard. He hired workers until the 11th hour. And the 11th hour was the last hour before quitting time. And even though they had failed up until that moment to find employment, when the Master called they answered that call and until the last hour our Lo...

I read a good deal today about the fear of death and there are some people who believe that the greatest fear that man faces is the fear of death. I’ve come to believe that our greatest fear is not the fear of death, but the fear of insignificance, the fear that we shall live our years upon this earth and when we are through that it will be as though we have nev...

Several years ago somebody sent me a card. On the front of it was a simple saying: “Enjoy life.” And on the inside these words: “This is not a dress rehearsal.”  This is life. You are living it right now. And if you aren’t enjoying it, if you aren’t finding meaning in life right now, there is a great possibility that you will...

I talked with a businessman this past week who made an investment some time ago. At the present time, he is getting back every month as much as his original investment. Do you know what he said to me? He said, “I wish I had been able to put more into it.” If you ever look at life as the kind of investment that brings back to you according to what you put i...

Some time ago the Baptist preacher Carlyle Marney quoted Herodotus as saying, “The greatest tragedy that could come to any person’s life is to aspire to do much and then to achieve little.” And Marney said, “No, that is not so. The greatest tragedy is to aspire to do something, and to do it, and then to discover it’s not worth doing.&rdqu...