Bible Lessons

A Great Book if Applied   While studying in the Holy Lands, a seminary professor heard about a man who claimed to have memorized the entire Old Testament , and in Hebrew!   Needless to say, the professor was astonished , and he asked to meet the man and see a demonstration.   A few days late r they sat together in the man ’ s home.  “ Where shall we begin? ” asked the man.  “How about Psalm 1 ?” replied the professor, who happened to be an avid student of the P salms.   Beginning with Psalm 1:1, the man began to recite from memory while the professor followed along in his Hebrew Bible.   For two hours the man continued word for word without a mistake as the professor sat in stunned silence.  Finally, w hen the demonstration was over, the professor discovered something even more astonishing about the man .  H e was an atheist!   Here was someone who knew the Scriptures better than most Christians ever will, and yet he di...

Declared Legally Dead as He Sat Before the Judge    The title above was also the title of an article published in the New York Times on October 11, 2013.  Written by John Schwartz, it tells about a man named Donald Miller Jr., a man who was declared legally dead in 1994.  He had vanished from his home eight years earlier.  Miller, age 61, told Hancock County Probate Court Judge Allan Davis that he disappeared in the 1980s because he was an alcoholic and had lost his job.  His ex-wife claimed that he had vanished because he owed $26,000 in overdue child support payments.  Miller lived in Florida and Georgia before returning to Ohio around 2005.  He said his parents told him about his “death” when he came back to the state.  So Miller went to court to ask the Probate Judge to reverse the 1994 ruling that declared him legally dead.  He wanted to obtain a driver’s license and reinstate his Social Security number. But Judge Dav...

When Should We Pray?     In Ephesians 6:18, Paul wrote, “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.”  When should we pray?  Paul said that Christians ought to pray “at all times.”  In other words, we should pray ALWAYS, in EVERY SEASON, and on EVERY OCCASION. When should we pray?   Now!  And always!  Without ceasing!  Prayer is that important.  We ought to be doing it all the time because we certainly need it all the time to be strong and maintain our great relationship with the Lord. Earlier in Ephesians 6:10ff, Paul wrote about all kinds of things we need in order to be strong: the BELT of truth, the BREASTPLATE of righteousness, the BOOTS of the gospel of peace, the SHIELD of faith, the HELMET of salvation, and the SWORD of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Then notice in v18 he saves PRAYER for LAST...

Do Not Grow Weary    Ignace Jan Paderewski, the famous Polish composer-pianist, was once scheduled to perform at a great American concert hall for a high-society extravaganza.   In the audience was a mother with her fidgety nine-year-old son.   Weary of waiting, the boy slipped away from her side, strangely drawn to the Steinway on the stage.   Without much notice from the audience, he sat down at the stool and began playing C hopsticks . The roar of the crowd turned to shouts as hundreds yelled, “ Get that boy away from there! ”   When Paderewski heard the uproar backstage, he grabbed his coat and rushed over behind the boy. Reaching around him from behind, the master began to improvise a countermelody to Chopsticks . As the two of them played together, Paderewski kept whispering in the boy's ear, “ Keep going. Don ’ t quit, son ; d on ’ t stop .   You’re doing great.   Just keep on going.” That’s kind of what Paul wrote to the Ph...

My Father is the Pilot    A preacher was once travelling by airplane when the “Fasten Your Seat Belts” sign began to flash.    Then, after a while, a calm voice said, “We shall not be serving beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence.   Please be sure your seat belt is fastened.”   As the preacher looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive. Later, the voice on the intercom said, “We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time.   The turbulence is still ahead of us.”   And then the storm broke . . . The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above the roar of the engines.   Lightning lit up the darkening skies, and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean.   One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as if were about to crash.   The preacher...

Room for More in the Family of God    In Luke 19:10 , Jesus said, “The Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”   Similarly, Paul told Timothy, “ This is a faithful/trustworthy saying, and it deserves full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).   It was 2000 years ago that our Lord came to give His life to save sinners, but there are still so many remaining who need salvation.   In Christ’s parable of the great supper, the servant went into the streets of the city and brought back many people.   But then he reported back to his master, “Lord, what y ou commanded has been done , and yet still there is room for more” (Luke 14:22).   God is still a God of abundant love and amazing grace , and t here is still room for more in the f amily of God!  And certainly we know there is still plenty of room in this our Pontotoc C hurch F amily for many more to come to Christ! The Great Comm...

An Inconvenient Map App    The following is from an article I once found on Forbes.com: Embarrassing defects in  Apple ‘s new Maps app may be inconvenient for some , but for others in  Australia  they could be deadly. Police in the city of  Mildura, Victoria  are warning motorists to be careful when using the iOS 6 service in the area, because the app incorrectly lists Mildura as being in the middle of Murray Sunset National Park.   The flaw has consequently lead several motorists to become stranded in the Australian Outback. Sunset National Park is not a typical park with barbecue cookouts and babbling brooks, but more than 3,000 square miles of Australian bush that contains poisonous snakes and insects, has very little water or mobile reception, and has recently seen temperatures of 115 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s also about 43 miles away from the real Mildura.  Google  Maps shows Mildura as being to the  n...

T hings I Learned in Africa    I have some very dear friends who are right now in Africa on a mission trip.   While thinking about and praying for them, I remembered something I once wrote several years ago after returning from my first trip to Africa.   Here it is... 1.     People in Swaziland are very friendly, but they drive on the wrong side of the road.   Their hot and cold water faucets are also on opposite sides than we have. 2.     God is not exclusively American.   The Holy Spirit is alive and well and dwelling within the hearts of our brothers and sisters in Africa. 3.     There are still people who want to hear the word of God.   They’re glad to sit on the ground or on a rock outside their home.   They’re even willing to walk in wintertime darkness to gather with the church to learn more of what the Bible teaches. 4.     God blesses different people in different ways.   W...

God’s Wonderful Blessings    One afternoon a shopper at the local mall felt the need for a coffee break.  She bought herself a little bag of cookies and put them in her shopping bag.  After purchasing a cup of coffee, she found a place to sit at one of the crowded tables.  Taking the lid off her coffee and taking out a magazine, she began to sip her coffee and read.  Across the table from her a man sat reading a newspaper. After a minute or two she reached out and took a cookie.  As she did, the man seated across the table reached out and took one too.  This put her off, but she did not say anything.  A few moments later she took another cookie.  Once again the man did so too.  Now she was getting a bit upset, but still she did not say anything. After having a couple of sips of coffee, she once again took another cookie.  So did the man.  She was really up...

Do You Believe in the Power of Prayer?    While crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner, a preacher was asked to address the first class passengers. At the captain's request, he spoke on "Answered Prayer." An agnostic who was present at the service was asked by his friends, "What did you think of the preacher's sermon?" He answered, "I didn't believe a word of it." That afternoon that same preacher went to speak to the steerage passengers. Many of the listeners at his morning address went along, including the a gnostic, who claimed he just wanted to "hear what the babbler had to say." Before starting for the service, the agnostic put two oranges in his pocket. On his way he passed an elderly woman sitting in her deck chair fast asleep. He noticed that her hands were open, and so in the spirit of fun, the agnostic put the two oranges in her outstretched palms. After the meeting, he saw the old lady happily eating one of the pie...

Keep Your Behavior Excellent    In 1 Peter 2:12, the apostle Peter tells us, “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” In other words, be careful because people are watching. Perhaps you’ve heard the following story… A woman pulls up to a red light behind one other car. She notices the driver of the car in front of her is talking on his  cell phone and appears to be shuffling through some papers on the seat beside him. The light turns green, but the man doesn't notice. The woman waits, but the man doesn't notice the light change. The woman begins pounding on her steering wheel and yelling at the man to move. The man doesn't move. The woman is going ballistic inside her car, ranting and raving at the man, pounding on her steering wheel and dash. The light turns yellow. The woman begins to blow th...

Don't Walk Alone    The following article is from an email that was sent to me once by a dear friend (who, coincidentally, was diagnosed with breast cancer just a short time later)... My cousin, Donnie, lost his beautiful sweet wife to pancreatic cancer earlier this month. Jeannine was a precious person. She touched the lives of many people, family, and friends. Jeannine and I were not as close as we had been in the past due to raising children and busy lives, but there are some things that will always be with me because of her. When our grandmother was in a nursing home in Chatom, Jeannine and I would travel, with her little one, Kimberly, to visit Nanny every Friday. Jeannine began visiting Nanny long before I had the opportunity to travel with her. We would load up her little car with the walker and car-seat and head to Chatom. Jeannine enjoyed this so much. She told me one of the reasons was so that Nanny could enjoy Kimberly as much as she could in her last years on ...