Angie and I want to thank everyone for the wonderful Pastor/Staff appreciation dinner.  Y’all are too
good to us. We love ministering here and that’s because we love each of you. It is very unusual for staff
to be together this long, and that makes it a special place. I know God will continue blessing our efforts
and Angie and I look forward to more time here.
On a different note, the “holidays” are upon us.  It is the busiest time of the year for us all.  Family get-
togethers (with the decorating, cooking, travel, etc.) are fun… but tiring. Then, there are the church
activities.  We will have the Hanging of the Green, Lights on the Bluff, and our Christmas Eve service as
usual.  Please be in prayer for every service and clear your schedules (as much as possible). It’s going to
be a great Thanksgiving and Christmas season!
You may have noticed that we, as a body of believers, do not bring the “jolly ol’ fat man” into our church
activities around Christmas.  Christmas has two distinct sides: the religious side and the secular side.  I
have nothing against Santa Claus on Christmas; he was a big part of our family’s “what do you want for
Christmas?” aspect of the holiday.  Our kids and grandkids went to see him, sat on his lap, and rattled off
their Christmas lists.  It was all good family times.
But the most important celebration is the celebration of the birth of the Savior.  That, and that alone,
should be the focus of the church.  Santa has no place in our church activities. Think about it.  How
would someone feel if the “Choir Special” one Sunday was “Frosty the Snowman”? Or, what would the
Lord think about Duane asking us to stand and sing “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer”? Not much
worship in those songs, is there?
It’s only common sense, I think, to keep the church’s focus on the One who came to save.
Say good things about your Savior and His church.

It is not unusual to see ladies dressed in traditional Muslim attire these days. I suspect most people
don’t even bat an eye any longer when they see one.  But last week I went to a fast food restaurant in
Hoover and there was a Muslim lady cashier who was wearing a niqab.  A niqab is the manner of
dressing where only the eyes show; the face is completely covered. I’ll have to admit that caught me by
surprise.  I looked up the reasons a Muslim woman would wear one. To be fair, I went to a Muslim
website to see their take on a woman covering everything but her eyes. They made it seem as if it is the
best thing for women.  It supposedly helps them feel safer, it made them more secure as a woman,
helped them have freedom in expressing themselves, and it even empowered them.  Right.
The non-Muslim websites said it was a symbol of control, misogyny, and it revealed place women hold in
the Muslim culture. I’ve heard so much about the “misogyny” in the Southern Baptist churches because
we believe that a woman shouldn’t be a preacher, yet barely a word concerning all the ways that Islam
subdues and marginalizes women.  I wonder why.
Some should call me Islamophobic.  My response to that? Absolutely right. Yes. Bingo! I am certainly
fearful of what Islam would do to the immense freedoms we in America enjoy and celebrate. I fear their
general hatred for America.  Here’s a little note: Muslims have been responsible for 94% of all deaths
from terrorism since 1999; and the overwhelming amount of caseload by Britain’s counterterrorism .
agency, M15. The overwhelming majority if Muslims are peaceful folks, they would make nice
neighbors, probably.  But those in charge, the decision and policy makers, the “leaders”? I’m very much
afraid of what they can and will do if we just sit idly by and watch them grow.
Say good things about your Savior and His church.

Things change over time, don’t they?  In our own community, new folks could hardly believe how the
intersection of Tyler Road and Alford Avenue has changed.  Likewise, the intersection of Chapel Road,
Preserve Parkway, and Chapel Lane has been drastically altered. Opportunity and needs changed, and
the roads were adapted to meet those demands. I think everyone would agree the changes worked out
great.
There are even changes that are good for churches.  We moved our worship service from 10:00 AM to
9:00 AM and people seemed to like it.  Some churches changed the style of worship music and the
method of delivering that message…and most people liked it. The most important thing, though, is that
one thing never changes:  “ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
It grieves me to hear people say that the Bible isn’t relative to this day and age. I heard a man say that
he would never believe anything the Bible said because ignorant men, thousands of years ago, wrote it. I
yearn for someone with the opportunity to ask people who think like that what, exactly, do we know
now that makes the Bible useless?
Some might say that we know more about how the human body works, or that we have knowledge that
lets us fly from place to place.  We know more about nutrition, the weather, and even medical
technology.  But, you see, the Bible was not written to address those things. The Bible was written to
show us the character and purpose of God and how to have a right relationship with Him. And, guess
what? Two things haven’t changed:  the heart of mankind and the glory of God.  The Bible shows us how
to relegate the two. It answers the question of how a sinful man can have fellowship with a perfectly
righteous God.
Mankind hasn’t changed and God hasn’t changed, so the Bible is as relevant today as it was relevant to
the time it was written.
Say good things about your Savior and His church.

There was some excitement and/or concern recently because someone on a podcast said that Jesus
would return on September 23 rd and 24 th of this year. It’s not the first time, by any means, that someone
of note has declared that they know when the “second coming” will occur. For the record, they have all
been wrong. The usual explanation is that the prophecy wasn’t wrong, it’s just that Jesus returned
invisibly or secretly. He has not returned yet.
Let me say unequivocally and with utmost confidence that Jesus will, indeed, return.  There is certainly
going to be the famed “second coming” of Christ. It is going to happen, and it will be a magnificent,
glorious event, the likes of which has never been seen before. The Bible is clear in that it will be a world-
wide event: all of humanity will know He has returned.
There is, of course, much discussion about events preceding His return.  The “rapture”, the
“millennium”, and the “tribulation” have all been the subjects of deep theological study for hundreds of
years. Churches have been anchored around the position one takes on the timing and occurrence of
those events. And I’ll admit it is very interesting.  
You will note, however, that I do not preach much about the timing and occurrences of events
surrounding the return of Christ. The reason is that a Christian’s belief about those things will not affect
their eternal life. There will be “pre-millennium, post tribulation” Christians along with “post-
millennium, mid tribulation” Christians in heaven…and they will not be concerned about who was right
or who was wrong.
My daddy always said that a church (and thus individual Christians) have two tasks:  Teach lost people
how to be saved and teach saved people how to live.  If we take care of those tasks, everything else will
fall into place.
Say good things about your Savior and His church.

Growing up, I always thought that I had a lot of Native American blood in me. As I grew older I came to
realize that I had Scottish, Irish, and British blood, also.  In fact, I’ve told many folks that I considered
taking a name that best represented my culture and my “people”.  I settled on “Sleeping Elk McTavish”.
Fortunately, wise companions talked me out of doing that, and it was a good thing because DNA
evidence showed that I had little, if any, Native American blood.
My brother, Stephen, enjoys genealogy and has done extensive research on our family.  It is very
interesting to learn about ancestors, isn’t it? But have you ever given much thought to your “spiritual
ancestors “?  I have read a couple of books about Billy Graham and in doing so, I came realized that he
had spiritual ancestors with very familiar names. Famous religious leaders littered his spiritual ancestors:
D L Moody, Wilbur Chapman, and Billy Sunday, for instance.
There was one name that caught my attention, however: Edward Kimball.  Kimball was no great pastor
or dynamic evangelist. He was a Sunday School teacher who had a heart for the teens he taught in his
weekly classes. He had a particular burden for one young man and ended up going to a shoe store
where the boy worked after school.  He witnessed to him and led him to the Lord in a stockroom.  That
young man was D L Moody.  Billy Graham could trace his spiritual ancestry back to a guy who taught
teenagers the Bible on Sundays.
We may never know it until we get to heaven, but don’t you think it would be such an honor to be
family member of someone’s spiritual ancestry?  If you have ever taught in Sunday School, Discipleship
Training, RA’s, GA’s, or other places of teaching, you probably are. 
Say good things about your Savior and His church.

Do you know that the Roman chariots were built to specifications so that they would be about as wide
as the rear ends of two horses? That came out to be 4’8 ½ inches. So, what does that have to do with
anything? If you measure the width of the rails that trains run on today, you will find that they are 4’ 8
½” inches wide. I won’t bore you with a lot of details, but the width of train rails was decided by
something that was designed over 2,000 years ago. And, here is an interesting tidbit. NASA engineers
wanted to make the solid rocket boosters of the Space Shuttle a certain size, but had to downsize them
so that they could go through a train tunnel that was built for train tracks that were…4’ 8 ½” wide. Even
NASA was affected by the size of two horses’ rear ends!
We never know how our actions today will affect the future.  But we do know that our actions today can
affect the future. That should make us take more seriously our responsibility to make wise and careful
decisions in every aspect of our lives. We don’t know that tomorrow holds, but we can, and will,
certainly affect the lives of people way down the road of life.  That is a sobering thought; what an
awesome responsibility.  
But here is the good news about that:  We know a Savior that does know what tomorrow, and a
thousand tomorrows, holds and He gave us a book of instructions on how to live today so that we affect
the tomorrows in good and positive ways.  We live today so that God’s will be accomplished tomorrow.
Whatever decisions are made in the future, let’s allow them to be made on a solid foundation because
we lived out our Christian life in obedience to God’s Word, not by what the world says is needed at the
moment. If the width of the rear ends of two horses affects you today, think about what a Godly life will
do for your children and grandchildren….and more.
Say good things about your Savior and His church.

I read an interesting exchange between a democrat/liberal lady and a republican/conservative lady
about Charlie Kirk’s murder.  The conservative lady was bemoaning the fact that, in her church, nothing
was said about Charlie Kirk during the service.  The other lady was responding that too much has been
made of his killing while there wasn’t much outcry when two Democratic Minnesota lawmakers were
gunned down in their homes.  Are their concerns valid?
To a point, they are. But there are logical reasons why neither should be too concerned.  Let me deal
with the liberal lady first.  There are basically two reasons why the murders were treated with different
levels of outrage and despair:  Notoriety and effect.  Charlie Kirk was a national figure. People all over
the United States (as well as around the world) had heard of him and had very strong views about the
things he said. The Minnesota lawmakers were limited in their public personalities and views to their
local state.  Charlie Kirk had a tremendous effect in the college communities in which he spoke and
encouraged debate. Thousands and thousands of young people attended his gatherings and he had an
undoubtable effect on so many lives.  Because of their particular responsibilities to their state, the
lawmakers…not so much.  Please hear this:  All of the murders deserve outrage and anger and the
perpetrators need to receive equal punishment or justice will not be served.
But should churches consider him a martyr?  Charlie Kirk was, no doubt, a man of God who used his
platform to honor and lift up Christ.  I’ve seen several times where he unabashedly gave his testimony
and proudly proclaimed his Christianity. There have been people saved right on college campuses.
However, he was doing what the Bible tells us all to do in our chosen workforce, family, and social
opportunities: “As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’”  (Matthew‬
10‬:7‬ NIV‬‬).  And he did a spectacular job of it, probably the best I’ve seen.  I respect Charlie Kirk and
I am amazed at what he accomplished as he journeyed across the nation to college campuses. I thank
God for him and I don’t know if we will ever see his like again very soon. I certainly hope we do.  Our
nation needs it and the Christian community needs it.  His faithfulness, courage, and boldness will be
sorely missed.
Say good things about your church and about your Savior.

I’ve said many times that our government constantly and consciously tries to distance our nation from
God.  The reason is simple, as stated in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people cast off
restraint.”  When a nation, at the least, acknowledges God, the laws and culture reflect His words.  If
there is no God, then there is no restraint…no call for moral-centered self-control.  Anything goes.
Senator Jerry Nadler declared that God has no place in Congress.  That was revealing and disappointing,
but, no, Senator Tim Kaine claimed in a congressional hearing:  “The notion that rights don’t come from
laws and don’t come from the government, but come from the Creator — that’s what the Iranian
government believes,” he said. “It’s a theocratic regime that bases its rule on Shia (sic) law and targets
Sunnis, Bahá’ís, Jews, Christians, and other religious minorities. They do it because they believe that
they understand what natural rights are from their Creator. So, the statement that our rights do not
come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling.”  That is a complete dismantling of our
wonderful Declaration of Independence which says, in part:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. –That to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
It clearly states that our unalienable rights come from God and that the government exists to protect
those rights. Yet, here is a public government official who says that we should keep God out of our
government, our morals, our laws, and our culture.  I’ll tell you what is “extremely troubling” for our
nation…the line of thought from government officials as vocalized by Senator Tim Kaine.  How will God
bless a nation that seeks to govern without Him?
Say good things about your church and about your Savior.

‬This column should come out on or around September 11.  That is a date that will live in
the minds of people for many years to come.  Most of us can remember where we were
and what we were doing when we heard the news.  I was actually watching a news
program when they interrupted with the story and watched the second plane crash into
the tower.‬
But do you remember the church’s reaction to the horrific event?  We called special
prayer meetings more than once over the next couple of months. People joined together
to pray for the stricken families and for the nation. I would venture a guess that the
prayer lives of Christians increased at least ten-fold. Why?
As far as prayer is concerned we are very good at being “emergency pray-ers”;  our
prayer lives are typically mundane…maybe even lethargic.  But when there is an
emergency?  We fall on our knees quickly.  I’m not saying that we shouldn’t pray extra
hard when a problem or situation arrives, but perhaps we could consciously pray more
often.  Prayer is more than asking for God to take action.  It is also a time for
thanksgiving, worship, and seeking God’s will in the everyday things of life. 
A praying Christian will always draw closer to God, and a praying church will know
praising Him with good works.
Say good things about your church and about your Savior