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The Problem of Evil and The Existence of God

The Problem Stated The problem of why God allows evil to exist is a major hurdle to developing faith in God in the first place. Even after we come to faith, Satan will use this problem to try to trip us during difficult periods in our lives. Years ago, I read a...

Where Was God on September 11?

Some days we never forget, for they are indelibly imprinted on our hearts and minds. I remember exactly where I was when I learned of the death of President Kennedy nearly 40 years ago. Such shocking historical events are etched deeply in our memory banks. September...

What Happens When We Die?

Introduction Probably all religious people have questions about what happens when we die. Many of them believe that we cease to exist at death until the resurrection at the end of time. Some of the people in this category believe this doctrine simply through a basic...

Motivation—A Deeper Look

Part 1 -- Guilt or Grace? Part 2 -- Correction or Inspiration? Introduction to Part 1 In Christianity, motivation is everything! If this statement is an example of hyperbole (an overstatement to make a point), it is only slightly so. God is not nearly as interested in...

Give Yourselves First to the Lord

INTRODUCTION: 1. Today we want to have somewhat of an in-depth study on the subject of giving financial to God’s work. 2. Our special contribution opportunity is coming up soon, and this seems a very good time to study a very important subject. 3. Frankly, the...

Spirituality and Money—A Vital Connection

INTRODUCTION: 1. As your elders and ministry staff, we are thankful for every member of the congregation, and want to do our best to help you grow more and more into the image of Christ − for that is the will of God for all of us. 2. At our last all-church service...

Do You Want to Get Well?

Introduction This article is a written form of a spoken message delivered on March 28, 2004 to the Phoenix Valley Church of Christ. As with the previous sermon, “What Do We Now Believe?,” I wanted our members to be able to study out this material in more depth, and...

Appreciating Our History

NOTE: This article was written back in 2002, prior to the startling changes in what we have called in ICOC. In some ways, therefore, it is somewhat dated. However, the biblical and practical lessons found in it are worth sharing in our present day. In some ways,...

Beatitudes of Parenting

In this present age, any well-meaning parent is more than a little concerned about how their children are going to turn out as adults. Parenting has not been easy in any age, but in our current setting, the challenge can seem insurmountable. Thank God for the...

A Balance of Power—Or a Team?

Several years following 2003 ushered in a time of unsettledness, upheaval, re-examination and uncertainty within most churches of the ICOC movement. Some things connected with this time have been good, and some have been bad. Without going into the reasons for the...

Self-Starters and the Rest of Mankind

I recently had an experience and an insight from it that may be very significant to the way we are leading the church. The recent experience was going through the Dynamic Marriage facilitator training program. Although the purpose of this brief article is not to...

Golden Rule ‘Followership’

Co-authoring a book like Golden Rule Leadership has been a daunting task. Which of us thinks we have perfected Jesus’ style of leading? Certainly not Wyndham or I. Our primary goal in writing this book was to give insight and input as peers seeking to imitate Jesus,...

The Deity of Christ

First, consider the Old Testament references to the eternal nature of Christ. Isaiah 9:6-7 alone should establish the point beyond any doubt. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called...

Struggling With Faith in God

Just about all human beings struggle with faith in God at one point or another. Some struggle nearly all the time and some struggle very seldom. Others have ceased to struggle and just have tried to forget God, or quit believing in him. Regardless of where you find...

Adverse Publicity!!

(This article was written in about 1981 while I was still a member of mainline Churches of Christ—soon after I first encountered the discipling type churches.) Churches of Christ are receiving adverse publicity in the mass media of our nation. Shocking! Recently, I...

A Helpful Concept: Cooperation With God

A concept is a general idea that encompasses a set of specifics. Another way of describing it is to say it involves getting the big picture of a topic by looking at many of its individual parts. Describing concepts often produces a set of terminologies that are used...

Introduction To My Teaching Ministry

I began my teaching and preaching career well over 40 years ago, and have served on the staff of a number of churches in a number of states. Since mid-2008, I have been off the staff of a local church on a full-time basis, although I did function on the staff of the...

How Did I Get This Way? (Better Yet, How Can I Change?)

No person is ever satisfied totally with the way he or she is as a human being. Actually, that is a good thing since none of us is exactly like Jesus yet! But many people are not simply unsatisfied in their quest for growth; they are very dissatisfied with who they...

Hard Questions Answered

It is the purpose of this column on the web site to provide biblical answers to questions that are difficult, and for that reason, perhaps debatable. But since they are asked at times by those with questioning minds, they deserve to be addressed. While my intent is...

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GREAT Book #2!As I said in my previous post, I am rarely on Facebook these days. This means that algorithms used by FB will ensure that not many of my FB friends will even see this post. Therefore, please share these posts with your FB friends and help spread the word.Tom Jones has written many books, all very outstanding. His most recent book is like nothing he has ever written. In the Introduction, he expressed the thought that this difference might cause some to wonder if his mind had checked out on him!I don’t know what genre to put the book in, but I do know that it is a book that has left me where the title suggests: Captivated. I have read the book at least three times and my wife has read it twice in a two day span this week. It introduces Jesus in a way that all those in the younger generations need to see. It shows those of us in older generations the Father through Jesus, correcting erroneous and damaging views of God in a most unique way.To borrow a phrase from cyberspace usage, this book should go viral. I’m buying copies to hand out to those who need to see God clearly, whether they are currently religious or non-religious. It is truly a “must read.” ... See MoreSee Less

CAPTIVATED

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Your One Wild and Precious Life and the Loving Outrageousness of Jesus A fresh, even surprising and sometimes provocative look at our own lives and the Jesus we might not know. In a brilliant, compell...

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Two GREAT Books!The last two books I have just read are amazing! I will make a post about each separately. Since I am rarely on Facebook these days, and algorithms being what they are, not many of my FB friends will even see this post. Therefore, please pass these posts on to your FB friends and help spread the word.Book #1 is written by my friend, Dr. Michael Messina, a clinical psychologist with a large practice in several locations. His credentials are impressive. Mike and I shared a lunch and long conversation recently and he gave me a copy of his book. I assumed that it would strongly reflect Dr. Michael Messina as a psychologist with a great deal of education and widely varied experience. Instead, it strongly reflected Mike Messina as a serious Bible student and disciple of Jesus. He has quite a grasp of both psychology and scripture.Of the hundreds of books I have read, those by Christian counselors have been some of my favorites and the ones which have helped me the most personally. I would put this one at the top of that list. It is my favorite. Mike’s understanding of the Bible and people is combined in a truly remarkable way. It should be a “Must Read” for everyone. Despite his credentials, Mike just wants to get the book into the hands of people, a goal reflected in the price of the book. I just downloaded the Kindle version for Theresa – 99 cents! Buy it and pass the word on. You won’t be sorry! ... See MoreSee Less

Death, Disease, Disaster, & Despicable Evil

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Several months ago, I posted an announcement about a new book written by Theresa and me, published at the request of Toney Mulhollan of Illumination Publishers. As I explained, Toney discovered a number of previously unpublished articles that he asked us to update and edit into brief chapters, twenty by each of us, plus add some thought questions and action items at the end of each chapter. Now he has asked us to choose one chapter by Theresa and print it on Facebook to give you a better idea of what this 40-chapter devotional book is like. So, here ‘tis! Enjoy (and buy the book)!Hungry and Happy! —Theresa Ferguson “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)In looking at the high calling of the Beatitudes spoken by Jesus, some questions are in order. Do you really want true happiness? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to get true fulfillment? It is our response to Matthew 5:6 that will determine our joy level now and for as long as we live. From a worldly perspective, being hungry and happy at the same time does not seem correct. However, in the kingdom, we cannot be truly happy (blessed) without first being hungry—hungry for God! But what does this phrase mean in a practical sense? In the preceding context, Jesus had been performing miracles and meeting many physical needs (Matthew 4:23-25). The people were happy and impressed with both his message and his miracles. They were hungry and thirsty to have their physical needs met, but like most of us, their spiritual interest may not have been their primary focus. He wanted them to know that they could have lasting fulfillment only if they were hungry and thirsty to be filled with God. Our Food Must Be Christ Jesus himself was the Bread of Life (John 6:35), and the one who could give them living water (John 4:10). In John 4, after he offered the woman this living water, she was so happy that she went to share this new nourishment with all of her friends! Right after she left, Jesus told the disciples (who had just returned with food) that he had already received food. When they responded in a puzzled manner, he replied that his food was to do the will of God who had sent him and to accomplish his work. He was so happy about impacting this woman’s life, and so caught up in doing God’s will that he literally lost his appetite! The kind of hunger and thirst being asked of us is not that of simply enjoying a nice little meal – it suggests an all-consuming craving for a relationship with him. It is seeking him with an urgency and a feeling of being absolutely starved without him. Can you remember going without food or water for a prolonged period of time, and how you could think of little else but satisfying the cravings of your body? Jesus is telling us that we need to live in this sort of state spiritually, not that we are to go around unsatisfied, but that we will stop at nothing to continue eating and drinking of God! The Psalmist understood well what Jesus was discussing: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 42:1-2). Just how excited are you about getting time to be with God every day? Do you make time? Are you looking for more time? Is your heart yearning to be with God? Consider another passage in Psalms: “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water…My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you” (Psalm 63:1, 5). Not only must we be hungry in our souls for an ever-deepening walk with God, we must also be hungry and thirsty for the word of God. For a deepened conviction about loving the Word, just read through the 119th Psalm. Over and over, the writer talks of loving God’s law and meditating on it day and night. He is completely delighted with it, devoid of any sense of duty in reading it (for a Quiet Time) but overjoyed at the privilege of being able to commune with the expressed heart of his Creator! As we feast on the word of God, we will also hunger to please him, to obey him, to become more and more like him. This desire to please him will find a direct application in loving others as he does. Jesus hungered to serve others, to even give up his life for them. The things of God (Matthew 16:23) were all about serving and saving others for the glory of God. When our souls really do hunger for him, we will also hunger to bless the ones for whom Jesus died! An Eternal Longing for Him One of our greatest needs in growing spiritually is to keep an eternal perspective on our lives. We are not talking simply of being happy in the sense of enjoying our lives on this earth. Christianity is not another self-help approach to life or another “find yourself” philosophy. It is a religion teaching us how to live so we will know how to die. Christ is telling us how to live in our day so we will live in eternity. My own determination to hunger and thirst for righteousness was strengthened tremendously in the past by watching a dear sister, Suzanne Atkins, face death with an amazing hunger to see God. At age 32, with two small children, she discovered that she had a serious malignancy and would die in a matter of weeks. When I went to see her in San Diego just a few days before her death, I went for the purpose of encouraging her. However, she did most of the encouraging! As the pain of cancer racked her body, her eyes were lit up with the thought of seeing the God for whom she had hungered and thirsted. Each morning when she awoke, she was disappointed that she had not yet gone to see him. As we talked and laughed and prayed and wept, the real issues of righteousness came into clear perspective. The only way to hunger to be with God in the next life is to hunger to be with him now—every day! He is not simply a part of life—he is life itself. “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). Suzanne left behind a family and many friends, including me, who are more determined than ever to hunger and thirst for God. My prayer is that her example of dying with the joy of Jesus will help to create a thirst in you that will lead you to live and to die as she did. If you were to die today, what would others be able to honestly say about your hungering and thirsting for God and his righteousness? When we live out the beatitude of Matthew 5:6, then we can die with the beatitude of Revelation 14:13: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT 1. How intense has your hunger and thirst for righteousness been over the past several months? How do you feel about your answer? 2. Do you have a plan for Quiet Times with God and are you carrying out those plans? 3. The Bible speaks of longing to be with God in eternity. How does this idea impact your heart? ACTION ITEMS Select two of your Christian friends who seem to have a real hunger and thirst for God and talk with them about what inspires them. ... See MoreSee Less

Living to Please God

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Forty Short but Powerful Devotionals on Christian Living Gordon and Theresa Ferguson have both been walking with God for a long time now, starting in their 20s and continuing into their 80s. Through m...

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The Problem of Evil and The Existence of God

Where Was God on September 11?

What Happens When We Die?

Motivation—A Deeper Look

Give Yourselves First to the Lord

Spirituality and Money—A Vital Connection

Do You Want to Get Well?

Appreciating Our History

Beatitudes of Parenting

A Balance of Power—Or a Team?

Self-Starters and the Rest of Mankind

Golden Rule ‘Followership’

The Deity of Christ

Struggling With Faith in God

Adverse Publicity!!

A Helpful Concept: Cooperation With God

Introduction To My Teaching Ministry

How Did I Get This Way? (Better Yet, How Can I Change?)

Hard Questions Answered

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