Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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I recently returned from a long and emotional trip. I enjoyed myself, that is for sure, but as many of you will agree, weddings are exhausting. Family is fun, but can be exhausting. Sleeping in different places is fun, but again, exhausting. I’ve never been what people might call a “homebody,” but certainly there’s a point on every vacation when I can hear the bed at home calling me. This is nothing compared to the soldier I ran into the other day who spent a month training thousands of miles away. Or the soldiers deployed overseas for months a...
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” This is my favorite quote by one of the most forgotten characters of the Christmas story: John the Baptist. Sure, he was at most only a couple of months old when Jesus was born, but John’s entire mission was to prepare for Jesus’ ministry. John’s entire story, from his mother Elizabeth’s song, to his father Zechariah’s muteness is a precursor to Jesus. Because of this, I feel as though he warrants more mention in the Christmas story. John the Baptist, as many may know, was a 1-trick pony...
Why was John the Bap-tist arrested? Do you remember why John the Baptist was arrested? Much of John the Baptist’s life and ministry is remembered by most people. His miraculous birth, his wild “Florida-man” style of preaching, his baptism of his cousin Jesus and his final beheading are known by most people who attend church. However, people often forget the crime that ended his career and put him behind bars, where he died. “For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, b...
This is my 99th sermonette, but to be perfectly honest, I write this with the most trepidation of any so far. I’ve resisted writing it for quite a while, and I’ve run out of reasons not to write it. So, please know that the following is written with nothing but respect for my fellow “seasoned” believers. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2nd Timothy 4:7 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” 1st Corinthians 9:2...
“‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” 1st Corinthians 10:23-24 I know this is a bold statement but I believe this to be one of most important verses for Christians. I’m not trying to puff it up to get you to read this, I truly believe this is a verse Christians ought to have memorized and actually apply it to their lives almost daily. Paul writes this famous verse to the Corinthian church. See, as far as we can...
“Come and See!” Those are the words that greet the women who first discovered the empty tomb. They come Sunday morning with spices, but without a plan to move the stone. As they wonder about what they’re going to do about the stone, they are greeted by not only the stone moved, but an angelic visitor. “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” Matthew 28:5b-6 “Come and see!” The angel challenges the women to test his words. If the massiv...
I like canoeing. I used to go to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota before I moved further away but even today, I enjoy jumping in the James River with my canoe and a paddle. If you’ve never canoed before, perhaps someday I can give you a lesson. As you learn, you’ll notice something odd: good canoeists paddle on both sides. Perhaps that seems inefficient to you. You think “joe, doesn’t it make more sense for you to paddle on one side, and the front man (usually my wife) to paddle on the other side?” Logically, that does make sense, but in pr...
This September, we are examining God’s Playbook. We’re looking at the various choices and decisions that God has made preserved in the Bible. Plays God has run, that we would be wise to expect he might run again. When we talk about monumental moments in God’s plan, one of the moments that ought to make the list every time is God freeing his people from Egypt. Israel had grown from 12 brothers into an entire nation; but in the process, they had become slaves of Egypt. Then God sends Moses to perform 10 of the most dramatic miracles in the Bi...
This September, we are examining God’s Playbook. We’re looking at the various choices and decisions that God has made preserved in the Bible. Plays God has run, that we would be wise to expect he might run again. Mark 5:19 might be one of the most disregarded verses in the Bible. Verses 1-18 tells the story of a man who Jesus freed from a particularly destructive demon. I’m sure many of us know the story of the demon who called himself “Legion.” He tortured the poor man until he lived alone in tombs, screaming and cutting himself. That is,...
This September, we are examining God’s Playbook. We’re looking at the various choices and decisions that God has made preserved in the Bible. Plays God has run, that we would be wise to expect he might run again. If you open your Bibles to the very first page of the New Testament, what you’ll find is a list of names. Matthew chapter 1 begins with the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah. In that list you’ll find some absolute studs. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, to name a few of the absolute rock stars of God-followers you’ll...
This September, we are going to be examining a few of God’s plays in his playbook. When a football coach goes into a game, he enters with a playbook. As I understand it, a playbook is a collection of the plays that he can call during the game. These plays are in his book either because he likes them, or because his team is particularly good at them, or he likes to keep some surprises up his sleeve. Whatever the reason, whether he coaches 10 years or 40 years, those are the plays fans will likely see over and over. Similarly, God has p...
Where is God? Surveys consistently show that while not everyone believes in God as portrayed in religion, the vast majority of people believe there is a divine being. So, since most of us agree that there is a supreme power, where is it? On a mountain? In the ocean? Within ourselves? Where can the supreme being be sought for requests, worship, knowledge or justice? I’m never sure who reads these things, but if you’re not a church goer, but you believe in a supreme power, where do you seek it? I’ll wait… Having been raised in the church,...
A heavy metal band I commonly listen to, Skillet, recently released a song called “Hero.” In the song they describe, with no shortage of energy, how we need a hero. From the Skillet’s perspective, there is so much wrong with the world, life, and inside all of us that there is no way to make it through without an intervention by a hero. They feel a necessity for someone to fight for the weak, someone to fight for what’s right, and for someone to fight for humanity after death. Skillet isn’t crazy. I see this desire for a hero everywher...
Adino killed 800 men in one battle. Eleazar slayed Philistine warriors alone until his arm was exhausted from destroying his enemies. Shammah, despite being fully surrounded, held the high ground alone and won the victory. These three also tore through Philistine battle lines, and then slashed their way back through… merely to fetch David a drink of Bethlehem water (David did not command or order them to do this.) Then there was Abishai who struck down 300 Philistine warriors alone, as well as Benaiah-who killed two prominent Moabites, an i...
The devil doesn’t mind your church growing. I know, it’s an eye grabbing first line (the youth might call it “click bait,”) but bear with me, I stand by it. Throughout the gospels, one of the consistent themes is Jesus driving out demons. Most people know and celebrate this. However, many people forget the odd thing Jesus always does along with exorcism. Predictably, the demons always try to shout out that they recognize Jesus as “the Holy One of God,” but Jesus always commands them to be quiet, then exorcises them. Think about that. What...
One of my father-in-law’s hobbies is collecting toys. He has a myriad of different collectible figures from different movies or TV shows. Recently he visited me and gave me five figures based upon the characters from the TV show ‘Lost.’ I find them fairly amusing because they are plastic models of actors attempting to portray people who never really existed. That thought makes me laugh a little inside. My father-in-law has figures from all sorts of movies (Star Wars, the Fantastic Four,) TV shows (Lost), and I believe he even has a few based...
Wait for it. In 1st Samuel we come across the first king of Israel: Saul. Now, many of us know how the story of Saul turns out, but he began as a courageous leader. His first royal action was to rally all of Israel together (a feat unto itself in those days) and rescue a city in danger of being captured by one of Israel’s enemies. Saul initially inspired confidence that he may just be the kind of leader Israel needed. However, it didn’t take long to begin to see his shortfalls. See, his initial victory and subsequent crowning had riled the mas...
In the book of Judges, we find many strange stories. From a left-handed assassin killing an obese monarch, to a coward who destroyed an idol only to build a new one after God saved him; all of it and much more can be found in this dark and gruesome book. However, despite the strange nature of the book, at least one of the “heroes” is still well known in a children’s Sunday School room: Samson. His story, found in Judges 13, begins in mystery. The story begins with a woman being visited by an angel. Neither the angel nor the woman is named...
This last week, I was studying my way through Romans 7 when I came to a very intriguing passage. The passage was Romans 7:14-21. The main theme in this passage is the struggle between the Apostle Paul’s two natures. A part of him is utterly fallen and sinful, and another part of him desires to please God. I found this to be very thought provoking. Most Christians would acknowledge Paul as being a stellar believer. The Apostle Paul writes about living in faith, loving God, and loving people with such passion that it is hard for people today t...
Who am I? The world, culture and politicians will give me plenty of answers. They’ll tell me who gets to identify me, how they can identify me, and which identities are acceptable and which ones are not. While the world has many answers for identity, to get the true answers we must turn to God and His Word. We are created by God. We are created in God’s image. In every one of us, there is a bit of the divine. This, however, isn’t always obvious because it’s usually buried beneath our sin and the effects of our sin. Part of being human is bein...
Who am I? In a world that puts stock in how we identify, we must ignore the temptation to allow us to identify ourselves, and turn to the Bible. The answer to the question “who am I?” isn’t on social media, and the politicians certainly don’t have it; it is only found in our creator and in our creator’s words. Over the past two weeks, we’ve seen the first two ways to identify ourselves. First, we are created by God. We’re not accidents, experiments, or the result of random chance. We are intelligently designed. Second, we’re designed in God’s i...
For the month of September, we’re looking at our identity. While the world seeks to tell us who we are and how we identify ourselves, we’re going to look to the Bible. What does God have to say about who we are? Last week, we began at the beginning. Above all else, we are created. We didn’t happen by chance, but by careful intentionality. That being said, there is another fundamental aspect to God creating us that must be addressed. When God stated His intention to create us, He gave it a specific description: “in our image.” Presumabl...
Identity Politics. It’s a major “conversation” in our culture right now. The youngest generations have spurned labels, and yet continue to create new labels. Whether it’s in regard to their political affiliation, religion, gender or even race, who we identify ourselves as continues to grow as an issue. This conversation has the potential to be encouraging and enlightening, except for the fact that politicians (who, ironically, tend to be of the older generations), continue to use these labels and identities for their own gain. Thus, weaponi...
Identity. It’s one of major topics of conversation in our world. We debate who can define our identity. We debate the different kinds of identity. We debate how others are supposed to respond to our identity. Who’s male and who’s female? Do I get to determine for myself, or is there an absolute measure? If I can define for myself, at which age am I mature enough to draw that conclusion? What race am I? Can I choose which ones define me and which ones don’t? What about babies in utero/fetuses? Are they human? Who gets to decide that? All of thes...
The book of Daniel begins with a peculiar story. The best young men of Israel, who had been forcibly taken from their homes, are in Babylon when an edict comes to them. They are to be raised and educated in the palace with the best that Babylon has to offer for three years. At the end of those three years, they are to be tested, and the best of them will join the royal court. Among them is Daniel and his friends. The sticking point of the story comes in when the young men are to be fed. See, the officers of Babylon wanted to feed the young men...
