I served as pastor of Southern Baptist churches in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana for almost 30 years before taking a medical leave from the pastorate in February 2013 due to dysautonomia (POTS) and moving to Norman, Oklahoma. Blessed with renewed health, I was called as Senior Pastor of Pleasant Ridge Baptist in Morganton, NC in February 2015.
In this blog I share daily devotions from my own personal Bible readings, as well as sermons, book reviews, illustrations -- and occasional humorous "peeks" at life inside this pastor's home!
Tag Archives: materialism
“Where’s Your Glory?” (Jeremiah 9:23-24 sermon)
Sunday morning came to our church in Southwest Louisiana, and the crowd was exuberant. Purple and gold clothing was everywhere. People were cheerful and talking in the hallways. A festive air just covered the whole place. LSU had won their … Continue reading
Posted in Sermon Illustrations, Sermons, Uncategorized
Tagged church, conversation, crown, daily quiet time, Death, devotional time, discipleship, Ernest Hemingway, eternal life, eternity, exercise, glory, heaven, Houston medical center, Isaiah 55, J.I. Packer, Jeremiah 9:12, Jeremiah 9:23-24, John 17:3, knowing God, Knowing God book, LSU football, materialism, NFL injuries, Pete Rose, Philippians 3:10, prayer time, quiet time, relationships, riches, suicide, temporal values, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Washington Irving, Westminster Abbey, worship
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Do You Take The Money?
“And they took the money, and did as they had been instructed …” (Matthew 28:15 NASB) What an interesting sentence: “and they took the money.” The guards in this story knew the truth; they had been at the tomb and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged avarice, compromise, greed, materialism, Matthew 28:15, money, temporal values, temptation, truth or treasure
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It Will All Be Torn Down
“Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies, Uncategorized
Tagged eschatology, last days, materialism, Matthew 24, Matthew 24:1-2
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Looking At What Is Unseen
“We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (II Corinthians 4:18) The Apostle Paul … Continue reading
In A Night
“The oracle concerning Moab. Surely in a night Ar of Moab is devastated and ruined. Surely in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined.” (Isaiah 15:1) God revealed in Isaiah 15 His impending judgment on the nation of … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies
Tagged assurance, fear, future, Isaiah 15:1, judgment, materialism, prophecy, security, trust
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Illustrations from Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad
Not long after the Civil War, Mark Twain joined a steamship tour of Europe and the Holy Land. His entertaining book, The Innocents Abroad, chronicles the journey in a way only Twain could. Punctuated liberally with sarcasm and irony, the … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Sermon Illustrations
Tagged atonement, Bible prophecy, Death, Ephesus, Holy Land, Jesus, Mark Twain, materialism, rest, Sabbath, salvation, sermon illustrations, sin, the cross, The Innocents Abroad
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“Comforting the Afflicted & Afflicting the Comfortable” James 1:9-11
In the early 1900’s, humorist Finley Peter Dunne said that “The newspaper does everything for us. It runs the police force and the banks, commands the militia, controls the legislature, baptizes the young, marries the foolish, comforts the afflicted and … Continue reading
Posted in Book of James Sermons: What Real Faith Looks Like, Sermons
Tagged bung hole, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, Death, dust, eternity, Finley Peter Dunne, Hamlet, Isaiah 40:6-7, James 1:9-11 sermon, Luke 12:13-21, materialism, money, poor, poor Christians, poverty, Prince William inheritance, prosperity preaching, Revelation 2:9, rich, rich Christians, rich man and heaven, riches, self-image, Shakespeare, Sylvester Stallone, the democracy of death, The RIch Fool, The Rich Man and Lazarus, Your Best Life Now
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