Gideon’s Sword – Judges 7:9-22

This afternoon I’d like to take a favorite children’s story and try to look at it from an adult’s perspective.  Most kids raised in Sunday School know the story of Gideon.  They know that he was a timid man, living in trying times, risking his life just to keep his...

The Central Point of Christianity – I Corinthians 1:17-24

We haven’t done this before, but I’d like you to go back to the scripture we read earlier in our service.  It’s not that I’ve slipped a mental cog, or I have had a problem with the earlier reading.  It’s that I’d like you to realize there is more than one way to read...

September 2019

Dear Pastor and Brethren: Six New Visitors! The Cody and Jeanette Sworb family with baby and her daughter, Erica, visited with us one Sunday, and two OSU students, Ashton Mainord and Kaleb Vance visited with us on another Sunday. We have not had very many OSU...

October 20

Adam Burwell Brown was born on this day (October 20) in 1821. He was raised in Virginia and first educated by the Episcopalians. It was expected that he would become a priest of that denomination, but upon studying the Word of God, he became a Baptist. He attended...

Proverbs of Solomon – Proverbs 26:18-19

  Verses 18 and 19 highlight something which has been, and probably still is, a problem in my life. It might be a problem with some of you to a lesser degree, and for some it is no problem at all. But let me say right off the bat, my problem may not be what you think...

Playing with Fire – Acts 15:5-11

  There is an infamous cult of quasi-Christians living in the hills of West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Every once in a while they pull out their stash of rattlesnakes and play with them in their church services. They carry them; they stroke them; they even hold...

October 13

Julius Kobner was the son of a Danish Jewish Rabbi. Following his training as an engraver he traveled from place to place plying his trade. While visiting in Hamburg, Germany he met the Baptist Johann Oncken when he came under conviction and was converted to Jesus...

Proverbs of Solomon – Proverbs 26:13-16

  Most of Proverbs, following the early chapters, have been individual statements – a collection of proverbs. “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the...

The Leaven of the Pharisees – Matthew 23:1-33

  A church full of Pharisees could be a remarkable institution. Think about it. If every member was a true Pharisee, then every member would be in attendance at every service. They would all be on time and in their seats at precisely the top of the hour. It wouldn’t...

The Fixed Heart – Psalm 57:1-11 (7)

  Some of you young people probably won’t appreciate the name “Christian Barnard.” And perhaps some of you adults might have forgotten the name as well. Christian Barnard was the son of a Christian minister in the country of South Africa about a century...