Untitled

Dale Pollard The book of Jonah is a unique book in the Old Testament. Unlike other prophetic books, God chooses to focus on the prophet himself rather than the message being preached by him. While many lessons can be pulled from this four chapter book, there’s one in particular that we can all benefit from hearing from time to time. That lesson is that in order for true change to occur in our…

Neal Pollard It does not matter how long a church has existed at a location. Nor does it matter how long an individual Christian has been a baptized believer. It is still possible for a Christian or a congregation to be deemed immature or in need of growing up. To a congregation that had been established for some time, Paul writes, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the…

Brent Pollard Never assume someone is beyond saving. The Deadliest Single-Aircraft Accident in History On August 12, 1985, on the eve of Japan’s Obon holiday—when millions travel to their hometowns to honor departed loved ones—524 people, many of them families, boarded Japan Airlines Flight 123 from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport bound for Osaka. Seven years earlier, an improper structural repair to…

Carl Pollard Few passages in Scripture are as sobering as Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21–23. Throughout the Bible we find warnings like, “Depart from Me,” “The door was shut,” and “You fool! This night your soul is required of you.” But perhaps the most unsettling is Jesus describing people who fully expected to enter paradise only to hear, “I never knew you; depart from Me.” These weren’t…

Gary Pollard Some phrases in the Bible are simple to read, but very difficult to comprehend. In this article, I’d like to walk through a process together in an attempt to make sense of a difficult phrase (thanks, Paul). One of those is in Ephesians 1.23: “…the fullness of him who fills all in all.” This is a description of Jesus, specifically as it relates to His being the head of the church.…

Dale Pollard Remember that flaming sword mentioned in Genesis 3.24?  “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” The Bible frequently makes use of analogies to describe supernatural realities. By examining the precise grammar and vocabulary of Genesis 3:24, it’s discovered…

Neal Pollard A dear sister in Christ recently spoke candidly about a time in her recent past where she was staying at home and watching the services of a local church rather than assembling with them. She grew convicted that she needed to praise God with His people, and it brought her back to the assemblies. What a righteous response and what a potent truth! Does God want us with His…

Brent Pollard You’ve received a notice from a page you interacted with through videos. The owner invites you to accept a badge showing you’re a top fan. A simple tap awards a badge for others to see—endorsing a page, personality, or content. It takes less time than a sneeze, but the algorithm remembers and quietly influences your feed. Paul understood quick endorsements early on: “Do not lay…

Carl Pollard I know I’m not old enough to say this, but when I was younger I used to lay in bed at night and try to imagine what God looked like. I would try to put a face to Him, I’d wonder what He was doing, and I would ask myself if God knew that I was thinking about Him. I still ask those same questions to this day. I’m sure that most if not all of you who are reading this believe that there…

Gary Pollard John emphasized Jesus’s identity as the Word. Many ancient traditions hold that the universe was created with the spoken word 1— something slowly becoming more accepted by even scientific minds (always the last to understand or accept truths taught in religion) thanks to cymatics. The ancient concept of magic was absolutely nothing like ours today. Specific spoken words in specific…

Dale Pollard “My problems are so big, my worries so mighty, there’s nothing my anxieties can’t do.” Wait, that’s not how that song goes. It’s been said that the there are more stars in the known universe than all of the sand on earth combined. That being said, in just one grain of sand there are more atoms than all of the stars. That’s pretty amazing. Our planet is but a speck in the grandeur of…

Neal Pollard Did they trace their origin to the time of the wilderness wandering, where God tells Moses to appoint 70 elders to help in a specific situation (Num. 11:16-25)? Throughout the Old Testament, we find elders in Israel gathered for specific purposes, but the formal body of administrators, civic and religious instructors, arbitrators, and rulers are not found until less than a century…

Brent Pollard Two Swords and One Cup: What Jesus Meant When He Told the Disciples to Buy a Sword In my daily Bible readings, I have always been intrigued by Luke 22.36. Jesus tells His followers who lack a sword to sell their coats to buy one. When they take inventory, Luke notes that they have two swords, which Jesus declares sufficient (Luke 22.38). When Judas appears, the disciples ask if it…

Carl Pollard If Jesus looked you in the eyes today and said, “Sell everything you own,” what would you do? Most of us immediately start explaining why He couldn’t possibly mean that. We tell ourselves He was speaking to one man in a unique situation. While that’s true, it still leaves an important question, why did Jesus say it? The rich young ruler came running to Jesus with one of the…

1 Chronicles 21:16 Dale Pollard In the conclusion of King David’s ill-advised military census, 1 Chronicles 21:16 hits the reader with one of the most terrifying visuals in all of scripture. Having already struck 70,000 Israelites with pestilence, the text records: “David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, with a sword drawn in his hand extended over…

Gary Pollard Today’s article is simply a reading of John 17, Jesus having just laid everything out plainly before his disciples, revealing that he came into the earth from outside of the earth, and will go back the way he came. His prayer is entirely altruistic, a plea for protection and, above all, for unity. After Jesus said these things, he looked toward heaven and prayed, “Father,…

Neal Pollard You go into a hardware store, walk down an aisle, and walk up to a bin, looking for a 1/2″ X 6″ zinc-plated hex lag bolt or a 1/2″ sheet of birch plywood or a 3/4″ galvanized malleable iron tee coupling. Each of these is in a different department, serves a different purpose, has a different look and feel, and has a different value. For each, the size, material, and thickness…