Sound Words (Page 2)
SOUND WORDS, AUG. 18TH, 2024
THINGS LEFT IN THE PEWS Church members are prone to leave things behind in the pews. We’ve even known of some folks who drove away from the meeting house before discovering that they left one of their toddlers sleeping in the pew. Anyone taking a turn at cleaning the church building is in for an eye-opening experience. It is amazing to see the things that get left in the pews. For example: Trash. Candy and gum wrappers, scraps of paper, Kleenexes,…
SOUND WORDS, AUG. 11TH, 2024
LIVING AS A LEADER A true leader of God’s people doesn’t wait for a formal appointment to begin serving. Rather, we come to recognize leaders among us as those who in the regular course of life have already been serving the congregation “without the credentials,” so to speak. We’re not talking about an autocrat, one who arrogates unto himself a position, title or authority that doesn’t belong to him — a usurper, if you please. Remember, the primary function of…
SOUND WORDS, AUG. 4TH, 2024
I HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO FIGHT 2 JACK DEMPSEY & LUIS FIRPO I’ve always had a hard time understanding art. Maybe it’s because my brain is tuned to music as my form of artistic expression. In an effort to become more well-rounded, and to be a cheap date to art museums, I’ve recently begun to study the traditional form of art. It is for this reason that I rediscovered the George Bellows painting, Dempsey and Firpo. The painting depicts one boxer…
SOUND WORDS, JULY 28TH, 2024
SOME BENEFITS OF SUFFERING There is no problem in life more universal, more common, and more unique than that of suffering. It is the common malady of mankind; if we live long enough, we will experience some type or degree of suffering. It is not my purpose in this article to discuss the source or origin of suffering. While it is a baffling question, many good articles and tracts have been written to explain this problem and they can be…
SOUND WORDS, JULY 21ST, 2O24
JUSTICE AND JUDGMENT He has told you, O man, what is good;and what does the Lord require of youbut to do justice, and to love kindness,and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8) Justice and judgment are closely related. In fact, in the New Testament, the word for judgment is often the same word for justice. The idea is also closely associated with righteousness. In the Old Testament, “justice and righteousness” are often seen together. True justice will always…
SOUND WORDS, JULY 14TH, 2024
CHANCE OR PROVIDENCE? There are some things we clearly know from Scriptures because God has chosen to reveal them to us. We know exactly what God would have us to do to be saved because He has clearly told us through His word. We know that God hates divorce, a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood and many other sins that we might commit against each other (Malachi 2:16; Proverbs 6:16-19). But when it comes to knowing…
SOUND WORDS, JULY 7, 2024
AIN’T ANYTHING MEANER THAN KILLIN’ BABIES In Marc Connelly’s wonderful 1930 play, The Green Pastures — wherein heaven is viewed through the eyes of African-Americans in the Deep South — there’s a telling scene involving Pharaoh and a court official identified as the head magician. Pharaoh’s order to drown the male Hebrew children has been carried out, but his hatred for the Hebrews hasn’t abated, and he’s still trying to come up with something to make the Israelites’ existence more…
SOUND WORDS, JUNE 30TH, 2024
NO BROWN M&M’S Pueblo, Colorado 1980. Van Halen was at the top of their game and the top of the world. They were at the start of their Women and Children First tour. Before their concert, Van Halen entered their dressing room to find a bowl of M&M’s. Upon further examination of the M&M’s, the band saw … brown ones. This threw them into an eruption of unchained rage. They trashed their dressing room, causing $3,500 worth of damages, but that was…