March 5, 2007
By Martha J. Jaynes

 

Jonah got off easy.  Can I just be honest and say I never much liked Jonah?  To me he was a coward and a con man.  He didn’t want to do what God asked.  He wanted a nice cushy job, but God gave him a tough assignment.  And Jonah ran the opposite way.  He was, in my opinion, too religious.  A godly man would have seen the people of Nineveh as the lost sheep they were.  He would have seen them like God sees them.  Yet Jonah was a man full of religion; he saw the people of that town only as unredeemable sinners.  I know how Jonah felt and I know what it took to change him.  I know what it took to change me and it was a lot longer than three days.

By Jonathan R. Harrah

A group of seven young people were gathered at our Apostolic church in Missouri on February 15, 2007 to rehearse an upcoming drama.  The theme of the play was the importance of the Bible and how people have died trying to protect it.  In the play, a militaristic group of men bust into a home where people are illegally studying the Bible.  The two actors portraying these roles obviously needed to have realistic looking guns, thus we used pellet guns that a member of the youth group owned.  As we practiced we thought it was a necessity to have all the lights in the church dimmed to create the dark setting of the drama.

February 19, 2007
By Sondra Jennings

 

Almost everything has a price.  A commercial for a credit card company has attempted to show us that we can spend money on certain things to attain a priceless reward: maybe a ballgame, a hot dog, and a big foam finger can lead to priceless memories with a child.

 

Alone Time with Jesus—Priceless
By Sondra Jennings
 

 

Almost everything has a price.  A commercial for a credit card company has attempted to show us that we can spend money on certain things to attain a priceless reward: maybe a ballgame, a hot dog, and a big foam finger can lead to priceless memories with a child.

February 5, 2007

By Lee Ann Alexander

Protestants have long championed the idea of the “priesthood of believers”--in essence, the idea that individual believers can interact with God directly, rather than funneling business through a priest.  One of the more famous proponents of this concept was Martin Luther, and, of course, his radical thinking rocked the religious world and changed the course of history.

January 15, 2007
By Rachel Clark

 

“Here’s the kicker…” This is a line that you would normally hear when a person is trying to prove a point or make a statement of emphatic impression.

 

January 1, 2007
By Courtney Ballestero

 

The Lord was moving. His presence was moving around the room blessing not only the regular parishioners (do we say that word in Pentecost?), but visitors I had never seen before were coming down to the altar with tears streaming down their faces practically dragging their burdens down the aisle like an overstuffed laundry bag. It was still in the midst of the worship service as the choir was singing a stirring song which I shall not name--really folks, it wasn’t about the song; it was about Jesus wanting to infuse the atmosphere with change. He had entered the room not to just attend, but to attend to the needs of the needy. It was incredible.

By Rhea K. Liberty

December 18, 2006

 

Working in retail as I do, I could venture to say that the real reputations of people are evident in their shopping habits. For the past five years I have had the opportunity to come in contact with every variation of the “typical” customer--from the carefree browser to the demanding pain, many true identities have been revealed.

By Christy Stenger
December 4, 2006
 
“And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation:  for I have written a letter unto you in few words” (Hebrews 13:22).
 
Have you ever thought about the people Paul touched through his letters but whom he never actually met?  Well, I have lately. My husband is in the Air Force and we move a lot.  Since 1998, we have moved four times.  That is a lot—but that also means a lot of friends.  Sometimes my husband Bob and I feel like evangelists.  Think of how many people we could touch and reach for God in our travels!

 

By Summer Ratcliff

November 20, 2006

Growing up, I remember asking my mom, “Mom, can I please have a baby brother or sister?” I probably asked her this a thousand times, yet the answer was still always the same, “When God wants you to have one He will give you one.” Time went on and as I got older my hopes of having a little brother or sister quickly faded. We had decided in our minds that my mother would never be able to bare children.