About 40 years ago, when Sueanne and I were much younger, we came in contact with a preacher who introduced us to the mission field in Scotland. Sueanne and I actually went to Scotland, spent two weeks in Glasgow, getting to know the church there and checking out the country, and by the end of…
Sometimes cities are known because of a famous resident. For example, if you were to go to Springfield, Illinois, you would find that it is best known for being the home of Abraham Lincoln. Tupelo, Mississippi is known for being the birthplace of Elvis Presley. And if you were to go to Hibbing, Minnesota, and …
All of you are probably unaware of the fact that the United States once had an emperor. It’s true – at least, it was in the rather confused mind of Joshua Norton. Norton lived in San Francisco during the 1800’s. He was a bit of an eccentric. In 1859, he published a proclamation in…
What do you call someone who switches sides in the middle of a war to join up with the enemy? I suppose that all depends on whether he’s joining your side or joining the other side. If someone leaves your enemy and joins up with your side, that’s not such a bad thing. But if…
Some of you may remember, in 1982, when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a British colony off their coast. The British responded with a naval assault which resulted in a 10-week war between Great Britain and Argentina, a conflict we now know as the Falklands War. After the war, someone asked a member of parliament…
This morning, I want to begin a new series of lessons from the book of 2 Samuel. We’re going to be taking a look at the life of King David, who is one of the most significant men in all the Bible. And I say that because, as his story goes on, one of his…
My guess is that most of you don’t pay much attention to who wrote the songs that we sing every Sunday morning, but I want to tell you a little bit about one of the hymnwriters. Her name is Fanny Crosby and Fanny is thought by some to be the greatest hymnwriter in the history…
Weekly World News is a tabloid newspaper, not exactly known for telling the truth. But, in November 1985, they reported that there was a wealthy couple in Switzerland who got into an argument when the husband cancelled a vacation. His wife expressed her disappointment by pouring baking soda into her husband’s fish tank, killing his…
In Acts 17, Paul and Silas were preaching about Jesus in Thessalonica and they were having some degree of success, so some of the Jews got angry and they formed a mob to drag them out and deal with them. Verse 6 tells us, “And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and…
Throughout the history of Christianity, we have talked about the subject of eternal punishment. And, a lot of times, we have used hell as a way to get people to do what we wanted them to do, to control people’s behavior. We even refer to sermons like that as “hellfire and brimstone”. And my…
