Salvation
Knowing I am Secure in Jesus
I decided to buy my wife, Alean, a new car. For years she has blazed her way around town in a sporty, red, Ford Mustang. It was a cute car, and it was very fun to drive, but as she and I age, our center of gravity shifts and muscle aches rise, and we have…
Read MoreChrist-Follower, You are NOT Guilty and NOT Condemned
We have a new kitten in our home. I named him Sebastien, but we are thinking his real name should be “Stinker,” because he is quite mischievous. Sebastien was a feral kitten, being carried in his mother’s mouth as she and the family crossed a busy street in Salina, Kansas. While crossing, an automobile struck…
Read MoreHope With a Guarantee
© 2018 Jon Tyson. All Rights Reserved. UnsplashUsed by permission. I no longer do so, but there was a time when I served in full-time ministry, and the majority of that work was done in the context of the university campus, initially as the Director of the Louisiana Tech University Christian Student Center, and subsequent…
Read MoreThree Truths About Raising the Dead
I marvel, at times, regarding the various trends that seem to captivate the attention of huge numbers of people. More often than not, I have no idea how or where the trend started, or what it is that keeps it going. Consider the recent national obsession with bacon. Seriously, what is up with that? Yes,…
Read MoreFive Gems of Salvation
My first year in full-time ministry, I worked with a small church in Ruston, Louisiana. I still recall one Sunday morning, walking into the church building and overhearing a lively discussion going on in one of the adult classrooms. With a loud slap of his hand on the table, a frustrated man shouted, “Dammit! I’m…
Read MoreFive Attributes of God’s Story We Should Understand
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, ESV The word “gospel” is an English tweak of an…
Read MoreThere Is No ‘Someday’
This morning, Mister Bear (my cat) was sitting regally by the back door, gazing out the window at his ditch – his kingdom. When he realized I was watching him, he said it, “Ooooooooouuuuut.” Obediently, I went to the door and opened it for my feline master. Every one of you who is owned by…
Read MoreExcept for These Chains
“This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.” (2nd Timothy 2:8b-9, NIV-1984) Six months after the fact, I can still recall a tremendously impactful time of worship with my home church wherein we observed the International Day of…
Read MoreWashed Whiter Than
Isaiah opens his prophecy describing Israel as a terribly rebellious nation. We get no further than the opening statement before we have God’s lament, “Sons I have reared and brought up, but they have revolted against Me.” So extensive is their alienation from their creator that God says, “An ox knows its owner, and a…
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