Category: Uncategorized

    Though not surprised I am saddened, and ashamed, by the majority decision of our Supreme Court.  I am saddened and ashamed for several reasons.  One is that it seems to me to be “bad law.”  What I mean by that is that it is a reading into the Constitution and not a reading from…

  “There are different kinds of gifts,” the Scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:4 “but the same Spirit.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.”  There are also different strategies, and there are different…

       We are a country flowing with blood, though we don’t like to see ourselves that way.  No one likes to look at themselves in a negative light; it is uncomfortable, it is depressing, it is disturbing.  Some of us find it not only acceptable but justifiable to kill others, to protect our rights, our homes, our…

    This is a short piece on ANGER.  Recently Joan and I had an opportunity to do some counseling with a couple, and one of the issues that surfaced was the issue of “anger.”  Over the years I have certainly had to confront this issue in other couples, individuals, with my own marriage, and inside…

I wanted to share with you some reflection on a marvelous book I have been reading (listening to).  It is The Road to Character by David Brooks.  I find it a wonderful and thought provoking work, and very challenging as I am forced to inspect my own character, or character flaws, if you will.  …

One of the questions that has come up several times in the course of my training churches in cross cultural ministry is in the area of worship.  Once I had a white pastor say to me, whose church was in an African American neighborhood, “we do lots of ministry in the community, but so far…

If loving your neighbor as you love yourself means fulfilling the golden rule, i.e., “do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” then what you say and what you do should rightly be taken as the way you want to be treated and the way you want others to speak of you.…

SOME IDEAS FOR NON-PROFIT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH LOCAL and INDIGENOUS CHURCHES: 1.     WORK ON YOUR WANT TO…   What I mean is that the leadership of the NP should want to have good relationships with local churches.  The NP leadership should think about the long term benefits of having local churches see…

There are different kinds of poor people, different ways people experience poverty, and different ways they respond to it.    Some people are momentarily poor, due to a sudden circumstance that throws them into some need they find difficult to meet or satisfy by themselves at that particular moment.  This can be anything from being…

   In my devotional reading, every once in a while, I see a connection between my Old Testament reading and that which I have read in the New Testament.   I am often convicted when I read what Paul says in Philippians 4:11 thru verse 13, “I am not saying this because I am in need,…

MERCY TIPS FOR PASTORS AND CHURCH PLANTERS 1.     Trouble is coming, so start planning for it.  Figure out how much of your budget you can set aside to handle financial emergencies.  Things like medical or funeral expenses, emergency travel, and housing and utility problems your people may encounter. 2.    Trouble is coming, so figure out…

        THE CHURCH AND ITS ROLE IN PUBLIC JUSTICE     This is of course is a place of historical debate.  Conservative Presbyterians are loath to become engaged in the realm of the secular magistrate and we begin this discussion confessing an appreciation and understanding of some good reasons for that.     Let us make…

CONFLICT By Randy Nabors   Recently I was asked to speak to a group of church planters and their wives about conflict.  Ted Powers must have assumed that after 36 years as a pastor I must have had some along the way. I thought I would share with you the gist of what I said…

TRANSCENDENT VALUES IN THE TANGIBLES     I have just read an article by Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr. entitled, “Preaching with the Culture in View,” which is a chapter in the book, “Preaching The Cross,” a ministry edition from Together For The Gospel.   In this article he discusses the ideas of H. Richard Niebuhr compiled…

SIGNIFICANT PARTICULARS OF THE PASTOR-SHEPHERD By Randy Nabors     I offer this not as criticism to any pastor, except maybe myself, for my failings were many.  I thankfully confess that I was privileged to have one of the greatest callings in life, in one of the greatest congregations I can imagine, and that by the…

     It doesn’t matter what anyone else says, it is Jesus who has the last word.  It doesn’t matter how much power anyone or any institution has, it is the word of Jesus that counts and must be obeyed.  It doesn’t matter how much anger anyone expresses, or even how much pain or hurt anyone says they have.  No matter our empathy…

  As we come close to the celebration of Christmas some of us will once again get to read, in the Gospel of Luke chapter 1, Mary’s praise to God for being told she will bear the Christ child.  This “Magnificat”carries with it an amazing revelation into the irony of how God has dealt with…

The U.S. Senate releases a report on the use of torture by the Central Intelligence Agency and we see division in the public response.  Some react by wishing the Senate had not released it, as it will give our enemies reason to intensify their hatred and use it to paint the U.S. as evil.  …

  I’m not really, but I am trying to think of how and why I could be thankful for the events in Ferguson, MO this Thanksgiving of 2014.     I’m thankful that no matter the injustice that exists in temporal times, God’s Word says eternity is real and lasts forever, and there is no…

The other day I was privileged to do a wedding.   I chose for my comments two texts, one from Mark 10 and one from Hebrews 13.   Though I have often quoted from Mark 10:9 at the end of the wedding ceremony, “What God has joined together let no man put asunder!”  I have…