Following are links to the PowerPoint presentations for the two sermons I plan on presenting Sunday. I hope they encourage you. The website these are loaded on does not allow users to incorporate “animation” in the shows, just slide transitions.

Sunday morning’s sermon is entitled “From Every Stormy Wind.” The slides that contain word art have each verse of that song from The Paperless Hymnal in the background. I am preaching one point about the Lord’s Supper from each verse.

AM SERMON: From Every Stormy Wind

Sunday evening’s sermon is entitled “Sounding Forth.” The major points come from Willmington’s The Outline Bible, but all supplementary material is mine. The lesson is an expository sermon of First Thessalonians chapter 1. It is designed to encourage all members of the 9th Avenue family to work, but it is also meant to “fire up” our young people for Lads to Leaders Bible Bowl for 2008. The books to study are First and Second Thessalonians, First and Second Timothy and Titus. I thought by preaching this sermon, some might see that there is a lot of great material that can be learned from these books.

PM SERMON: Sounding Forth

I hope these are encouraging to you. They have been, as all sermons are, an encouragement to me in my study and preparation.

Okay, another “rant” for a post.

Please take the time to read the following AP release, as it appeared on The Sporting News website:

Speak Better English

I’m just wondering: if someone said the same thing in America, he or she would be in serious trouble. But, while we sit back and let the proper use of our language suffer, others aren’t afraid to improve.

Do I give of my money as I should? That is a question that only God and I can answer, and it is a question that we need to answer together. Brother Andy often reminds us that he does not know what each member (or family) gives, and that he does not want to know. The same is true of me. It is not my job to look at members’ checkbooks and find out what was given last week.

A recent study, though, shows that the average Christian does not give much. Admittedly, the statistics given were from the “Christian” world at large, but the information is still helpful as we think about our own giving in a personal way.

Here are some interesting facts from the study:

• In 2000, American evangelicals made $2.66 trillion in income.
• The average contribution by American Protestants to “their church” is $17 each week.
• In 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, Americans in Protestant congregations gave an average of 3.3% of their income to the local congregation. Today, with a good economy that number has decreased to 2.6%.
• If every “Christian” raised his/her giving to 10% of the household income, an additional $139,000,000,000 would be available for mission work!1

Numbers like those should jump off the page. Again, these numbers are for all “Christians” in America, but are we any different?

Not all of us can give $500 a week, or even $100, but the New Testament places the emphasis on both the amount and the attitude behind it! If I love God and realize what He has done for me, I will want to give as much as I possibly can.

For some, that $17 per week amount may be a lot. For most, though, it is not hard to give that much. But that is the average. So, what is an average salary? Just over $40,000 per year. If we were to give just 10% of that average salary, we would be giving $76.92 each week.

So what? What’s the point of all these statistics? Simply this: There are 184 families listed in our church directory. If each family unit could strive to make that average amount their weekly contribution, what would our giving be each week?

$14,153…every week!

Just think of what our elders could do for the Lord’s cause if every family just gave that average amount!

Some can give more and some can’t give that much, but we should all strive to do better. God is the greatest Giver, and we need to strive to be like Him.

1http://www.christianitytoday.com/money/articles/keystatistics.html

A couple of years ago, I was putting together some material for a Bible class on the writings of Solomon. As the amount of material continued to grow, so did the idea of putting the material in book form.

One of our Bible classes studied the material and made some suggestions about how it could be improved. After several revisions, I showed the book to Riddle Creek Publishing. Now, after several more revisions, I am proud to say that Be Wise God’s Way is in print.

The book is designed to walk Junior and Senior High School students through the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. While there are hundreds of lessons to be learned from these two great books, Be Wise was designed to find those that would be most helpful for young people.

The 97-page book contains 13 chapters, making it useful for Bible school material. Each chapter title shows the emphasis that Solomon had on working. The chapters are:

• Chapter One: Wisdom Commences
• Chapter Two: Wisdom Acts
• Chapter Three: Wisdom Avoids Sexual Temptation
• Chapter Four: Wisdom Recognizes Right and Wrong
• Chapter Five: Wisdom Teaches about God
• Chapter Six: Wisdom Learns about Morals and Character
• Chapter Seven: Wisdom Avoids Evil
• Chapter Eight: Wisdom Keeps Integrity and a Good Name
• Chapter Nine: Wisdom Stays Active
• Chapter Ten: Wisdom Helps Human Relations
• Chapter Eleven: Wisdom Recognizes Wisdom in Others
• Chapter Twelve: Wisdom Sees the Danger of Materialism
• Chapter Thirteen: Wisdom Remembers What is Important

Questions are included at the end of each chapter to facilitate discussion in Bible classes. Also, each chapter contains a prayer to help the students make the lessons learned more personal.

It is also special that the book features two young people from 9th Avenue on the cover. Cheyenne Logan and Trent Williams agreed to pose in the Thinker position for the front cover. Also, four young people from 9th Avenue have short thoughts published in the book. Cristina Knight, Heather Fortenberry, Orry Moody and Rylan Terry all have short inserts that go along with some of the themes of the book.

For more information, or to place an order, contact Riddle Creek Publishing.