Hillside Church of Christ in Greenville, TX

By anyone’s estimate, Josiah is one of the top five kings of Judah. His youth, his devotion to God, and his aggressiveness in reforming the nation is impressive — even more so, considering he had virtually no examples to look to for guidance. His father Ammon was an incredibly wicked king — one of the worst that Judah ever served. His grandfather Manasseh was arguably the worst (although he did have a period of repentance at the end of his life that Josiah could’ve emulated). The only substantial source of integrity in his family line was Hezekiah, but considering Josiah

In the late 1880’s, a Swedish preacher was walking home from his office when he was caught in a violent thunderstorm. The rains came crashing down, the wind picked up, and he thought his life was surely over. Then, just as quickly as the storm sprang up, it was over. The heavens opened up, the sky returned to a bright blue color, and the birds filled the air with sweet music. In recognition of this contrast, he penned the words to a poem called O Store Gud. Several translations and a few bars of music later, and it was entitled

In Revelation 21:8, there are a whole list of sins that will prevent someone from entering Heaven. Many of them are understandable. Immoral people. Liars. Idolaters. Sorcerers. Murderers. But the very first one on the list is surprising: Cowardice? Not only does that idea seem out of place, but it also seems remarkably common. I’ve met lots of people that have fit the other descriptions (only a few murderers, thankfully), but virtually all of us have been guilty of being a coward at one point or the other. Biblical cowardice is different than being scared of a few spiders, though.