Serving Roseau County for over 100 Years - The Official Roseau County Newspaper
Serving Roseau County for over 100 Years - The Official Roseau County Newspaper
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It has been said that, "We are "not" what we think we are, but "what" we think we are!" What do you think? This earthly observation echos the King James translation of Proverbs 23: 7: "for as he, (a man) thinketh in his heart so is he." In our daily pursuit of life, the outside of us influences the life inside of us being formed every day. The apostle Paul may have had this in mind when he counseled the "brothers and sisters" in Christ in Rome not to "copy the behavior and customs of this...
Now some of you upon reading the title above may be saying: "What are you talking about, all your articles are religious." A point well taken, but I'm thinking about something else. Between two and three thousand people are exposed to my writing each week through the Roseau Time-Region and Facebook (that doesn't mean they all read what I write), and I suspect that many who are readers pursue a spiritual dimension in their lives. But I would like to touch the lives of some who embrace other...
Have you ever asked this question: "Where are you God"? Life is going along well and then all of a sudden, SLAM, life takes a difficult turn. That's how it's been with my latest and most difficult (by far) cancer experience. When I found out that the cancer within me was going to need to be addressed with chemotherapy my heart sank. (I know what chemo can do to the body on a regular basis and I was and still am scheduled for a total of 12 treatments.) Some of the potentially increasing side effe...
Before we examine today's text. I am going to share the Word of God. I want to examine the principles from His word about to God, found in the scripture. God loves us. God's first statement in the book of Malachi is, (Chapter 1, verse 2), "I have loved you," says the Lord. God's love for his people never changes. In Jeremiah 31:3 we read these words of God to his people; "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness." Now this does not mean that God will not...
I am persuaded that we all need to understand about each other. First of all, WE ARE A WONDERFUL WORK OF GOD (no exceptions!) Right from childhood we should be able to see this reflected in the "mirrors of the lives of our parents"; the truth that "God don't make no junk!" Even as children, with the help of their parents, they can reflect the worth of other children (perhaps beginning with their siblings) can help with this. Now this week we're going to examine something about all of us that...
Hope is a very powerful word. It is a steering wheel. It will steer you away from despair. Where and how do you find hope? You may have distraction, but distraction will never bring you into a permanent safe place, it is just a band-aid for the time being. Jesus said in John 12:35, "The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going." There is a moral darkness without Christ, which prevents a person from knowing where they are going. There is a spiritual darkness which convinces a...
There are two important things which set Christianity apart from other religions: The Atonement, that is, Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross for our sins, and the Resurrection. Jesus was not just another religious martyr. The apostle Paul was extremely bold concerning the importance of the Resurrection. In Corinthians 15 he wrote: “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith…For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has...
Do you know why you do what you do? The late George MacDonald, a fine Christian author, and a contemporary of C.S. Lewis, said in one of his books: “You know nothing of whence your impulses, your desires, your tendencies, your likings come. They may spring now from some chance, as of nerves diseased now from some roar of a wandering, bodiless devil; now from some infant hate in your heart; now from the greed of lawlessness of some ancestor you would be ashamed of if you knew him; or it may b...
It is probably safe to say that most of us, maybe all of us, take at least one glance in the mirror before leaving home in the morning. Now I've been looking in the mirror for years, trying to get things right. Then this Christmas I received a present (a hat) that says it all (How can it be wrong when it feels so right?) What we wear determines what kind of statement we want to make and to whom do we want to make it? What about us Christians? What should the well-dressed Christian be wearing?...
God chooses to dwell with His people. He is not encased in a room or building, where you go to visit him. He is not a statue nor does he live in a fountain where you throw pennies. (Colossians 2:9) says of Jesus, "Who was all of God in a human body, and that He, "Became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:14). What a tremendous realization, Jesus has come to dwell among us. This coming week draws the dividing line between summer and winter. That's right, the Roseau County Fair. The...
Is there anything we can count on? Even if life goes upside down, the disappointments, which we all have had our share, are on the way. I am not starting with a negative note. It is just a platform we all live on. The title of this column says it all from the negative side. My answer to it is, "That all depends upon your belief structure. If you've got room for God in it, YOU CAN COUNT ON HIM! Belief in God can help us to go the distance in life. When everything in our world seems to be going...
Where there's life, there's expression. When expression ceases, the soul is balancing precariously on the rim of eternity, soon to fall into the Father's arms. The Bible teaches that the Master Model of Expression is God. J.B. Phillips translates John 1:1, "At the beginning God expressed himself." It is a statement that thunders into our imaginations, and makes us want to cover our ears and hide our eyes until the sound of it settles into the valleys of our mind. He did not express something,...
Three Things! The first thing is "We are all in process". We haven't arrived. One of the hazards of life is knowing more about ourselves then we do about others. This is particularly hazardous for those of who are Christians because when we pick up the Bible we discover that when we accepted Jesus Christ into our lives, God has raised the "standard of living" for us. Jesus said, "if you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). We have the tendency to believe that those we admire are doing be...
Numbers of times during my travels over the years I have come across signs which read: "No U-Turn". Sometimes these signs are accompanied by the words, "Emergency vehicles only." Now, one might ask, "Why would one want to make a U-Turn if they are already on their way to somewhere else?" Wellllll, maybe just because the sign says "No!" Perhaps they have left something undone like turning off the oven before leaving on a 3-week vacation. Maybe they forgot something. Like, when I was on a bus trip... Full story
What are your best hopes for someone who has a special place in your heart? Someone you think about a lot? That they might be happy? Certainly that would be the desire of all of us. But, life bears witness to the fact that we're not always going to be happy. We might be happy one day, and sad the next, or angry, or fearful. Happiness many times eludes us. Especially if we make happiness our goal in life. Perhaps there's something better than happiness to attach our "best hopes" list to. How abou...
It has been said that the Christian Church is always only one generation from extinction. "Well," you say, "That's not true. The Church has been going on for two thousand years, and, as a matter of fact, ours is on the grow." True, but let us hear carefully on the intent of the speaker. The statement was made to make a point, and the point is this: The ongoing existence of the church is dependent upon People continuing to come to Christ, living for Him, and passing Him on to others. 2 Timothy...
Do you like kingdoms? When I was a little kid some of my favorite stories were those that had to do with kings and castles and princes and princesses. Especially princesses in need of being rescued. And kissed! I liked kingdoms with dragons that needed to be hunted down, and engaged in a battle to the death in order to save the kingdom, and ally a princess whose hand, her dad, the king would give to any brave knight who rid the land of all resident reptiles with an attitude. I thought it would...
I received the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior on a Saturday night. I was non-religious, and totally ignorant of the Scriptures, becoming a Christian brought a major shift to how I viewed life. Something, or should I say "Someone," impacted my mind the next morning. As usual on Sunday, I slept late, then ate breakfast and read the Sunday funnies. I did not awaken on Sunday morning with an over-powering passion to attend church. About mid-morning, with the events of the previous night lingering...
Back in the 70's a Christian group from Minneapolis, known as "The Gamble Folk," recorded an album which included a song with this line: "Anybody here want to live forever, say, "I do". (Saying, "I do" to Jesus). I'd like to have us think about this sentence for a few minutes. Let's open our Bibles to John 1:12. There are three things about this statement: 1. It's simplicity, 2. It's profoundness, 3. Its permanence. It's Simplicity We become a child of God by receiving Christ for who he is. Beco...
It's "Lady's Day!" More specifically Mother's Day, but I want to shoot a little broader than mothers and celebrate all our ladies, both older and younger. I want to briefly examine the intimate place women have in God's heart, and the essential place they have in his work in the world. Three things come to my mind concerning women this morning: 1. Women as partners with their husband, and in doing this I recognize those women whose circumstances or God's leading has dictated singleness at this... Full story
The man on a corner holding up a sign, "Jesus Saves". Is it embarrassing? Or should you pay attention? Those words have become a cliché. What does it mean to be saved? Do you know? Now don't be too quick to answer, for it may mean more than you think. It is important not to forge God's signature to our own ideas, so we'll look briefly at three things the Bible has to say about being saved. The Bible teaches that salvation has three aspects to it, and the three official theological, 12 foot...
Last Monday afternoon I went out to mow our lawn after feeling quite ill Sunday night and all of Monday morning. Finally I just felt the need to get out of bed and go outside into the warm sunshine. As I began to make my rounds in the backyard I thanked the Lord for the beautiful Spring day, and then concluded by saying, more to myself than to God, "There's health in the Sun" S-U-N. The thought brought me up short, rolled around in my imagination, and came out the second time, "There's health...
I am going to begin with the following statement. "A job may sustain your life, but it will not provide you a life to sustain! It will not give you a life to prepare for! Do you have a "song to sing?" Who are you singing it for? That's what the Psalms are, songs sung to God, for God, and about God. In fact, either directly, or indirectly God is always the audience when the Psalms are sung or said. When we read the Psalms we come to experience the fact that they were written out of the...
Recently I have been reminded that the best health care plan is preventative health care: Living healthy, and when possible, knowing what to do when our health wavers. Now what is true for our bodies is equally true for our souls. Preventative soul care. Getting along! That's how I'd like to invite you to view this morning's message. Lest you think I'm aiming it at one of you specifically or someone you know. I'm not! If this nudge was on your behalf, that's between you and God. Getting along! P... Full story
When I was a freshman at Bethel College I took biology my first semester. I had a wonderful professor, a Dr. Johnson, who saw the wonders of God in all of nature and did his best to awaken his students to the same enthusiasm he exhibited in class. Some times he succeeded, but many times we just sat there and looked at him. One day he gave each of us a fish to examine, and invited us to tell him how many things we noticed about our fish. I noticed 5 things, and was amazed that one of the...