Church Blog 

The Dignity of Labor

  Psalm 90:17; 1 Corinthians 7:17 September 4, 2016 (KSYC) • Download this article (PDF) This Labor Day weekend, the nation’s airports and freeways will be full of travelers as usual. This is the last three-day weekend of the summer, and for most, a last chance to enjoy a short vacation, go to the beach or park, visit or invite family and friends and grill out. But very few know what they are celebrating other than a vague notion that it is about people who work. But what really does…

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Church Blog 

On Augustine, Pelagius, Semi-Pelagians, Evangelicals, Catholics, and Other Sunday School Stuff

I praise God for a lively discussion in our Sunday School this morning, as we watched “Justinian and Gregory” segment of Ligonier Ministries’ Survey of Church History (Medieval Age). In the 4th century, Augustine and Pelagius argued about predestination, original sin, and human “free will.” Augustine Augustine taught God’s sovereignty in man’s salvation, specifically predestination and original sin. In his “On the Spirit and the Letter” addressed to Marcellinus in A.D. 412, he wrote: How is it then that miserable men dare to be proud, either of their free will, before…

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4 Crumbs of Fool’s Gold About the Resurrection of Jesus

  Last Sunday, Easter Sunday, I attached this article, condensed from “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ” by Dr. Jack L. Arnold of Third Millennium Ministries, as a bulletin insert. It is one thing to reject the resurrection fact; it is quite another to try to explain away the biblical record. Men have tried to explain the empty tomb in a number of ways: The “wrong tomb” theory: Some say that the women who found the tomb empty were at the wrong tomb. There were four women. If the ladies made…

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Church Blog Recent News 

A Valentine’s Day Meditation

  Big Springs Community Church held its annual Valentine’s Day Dinner Fellowship yesterday. It was a joyous time of fellowship, with many seeing friends for the first time after many years. The program was short and simple, with only a couple of games, a short video, and a short meditation. Most of the time was taken up by the delicious, tender, juicy prime rib dinner prepared by Ken Joling and the kitchen crew. John and Marilyn Pitzer played love songs on the piano, dulcimer, and autoharp. For a photo album…

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Church Blog 

The “First Thanksgiving” We’ve Forgotten

Thankful for oldlife.org for pointing to this article by Robert Tracy McKenzie, professor and chair of the Department of History at Wheaton College. This article was posted on November 25, 2015, and I’m re-posting it in its entirety because, as so happens so frequently, the link changes or even disappears in time. Tomorrow families all across America will celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, and some, at least, will link what they are doing to the Pilgrims’ celebration on the coast of Massachusetts in 1621. Although frequently embellished and sometimes caricatured, the…

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Church Blog 

The Origins of Thanksgiving Day

  Broadcast on November 22, 2015 at KSYC 103.9FM in Yreka, CA Download this article (PDF) Thanksgiving Day in American History Most Americans are familiar with the Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving Feast of October 1621 in Plimouth Colony, Massachusetts. Fifty surviving Pilgrims, together with 90 Wampanoag Indians, had a three-day harvest festival of wild turkey, duck, geese, venison, lobsters, clams, bass, corn, vegetables, and dried fruits. This was not a religious event, except for giving thanks for the food. But few know that it was not the first thanksgiving feast in the…

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Church Blog John Sermons 

New Sermon Series Introduction: The Gospel of John

This coming Lord’s Day, October 11, 2015, I’m taking a break from our study of Psalms, and will begin a new sermon series. It is a book rich in doctrines and its applications to the life of a Christian. Says Gary M. Burge in his NIV Application Commentary on John: Today, the fourth Gospel is the legacy of John’s ministry – and it is no less beloved today than it was in the earliest years among his disciples. Few books of the Bible have influenced the life and thought of…

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Bible studies Church Blog 

7 Big Reasons Why Peter Was Never the “Bishop” of Rome, and the Pope the “Vicar” of Christ

  The Roman Catholic Church claims that the first Bishop of Rome was the Apostle Peter himself. They base this on Jesus’ promise, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church” (Matt 16:18), and “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt 16:19). But did Jesus really mean to say that he will build his church…

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Bible studies Church Blog 

The Biblical Doctrine of Sickness and Healing

  September 19, 2015 * Download this article (PDF) The Meaning of James 5:14-15 This morning, in our Men’s Bible Study of the Epistle of James, we arrived at James 5:13-20. Most of the discussion dwelled on the role of elders in praying for the sick, and on the use of “anointing oil.” So here’s a short summary of what the Bible says about sickness and healing. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with…

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Bible studies Church Blog 

Six Reasons Why the “Millennium” is Simply Heaven-on-Earth Escapism

August 24, 2015 Download this article (PDF) Most Christians believe in a “millennium,” a period of 1,000 years during which Christ reigns over an earthly kingdom from his throne in Jerusalem. They believe in the following series of events in the endtimes, with two major resurrections separated by the millennium: But there are at least six endtime Bible passages that are unaware of two resurrections separated by 1,000 years. (All emphases added.) 1. Daniel 12:1-2: “At that time… many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,…

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