songs

3243) A Sign of Hope

     Our country is not what it used to be, and I think we are heading in the wrong direction in many ways.  I was a minister for forty years, and I watched church attendance decline and young people abandon their faith; which is the trend all over America.  Fewer people are getting married, […]

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3160) Two Pretty Good Songs

     Last Sunday in church we sang “Come Jesus Come” by Stephen McWhirter (2020).  When I got home I did an internet search for the song and it’s writer/singer.  I found a great performance of the song by Stephen McWhirter with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, and, I found McWhirter’s powerful testimony.  Take the time

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3152) Be Fruitful and Multiply

 Genesis 1:27-28a (RSV)  —  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply…”  *******************************      Not everyone chooses to get married.  Not everyone who wants to get married gets

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3150) Forever Young

     In Acts 17 Paul is proclaiming the Gospel to some Greek philosophers in the marketplace in Athens.  Paul begins the discussion by commenting on the culture around him, connecting with what his listeners are already familiar with.  He refers to the many altars, shrines, and idols he saw on his walk around the

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3148) Pastor Jelly Roll

     Jelly Roll is not really a pastor, but he certainly gave a powerful sermon at the Grammy Awards last Sunday evening (February 1, 2026).  He had just won three of the top music awards, and he gave Jesus Christ the credit for turning his life around.  In case you missed it (I always

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3106) My Friend Rob and His Music (2/2)

Above image:  WILL THERE BE CHOCOLATE IN HEAVEN? *************************************      (…continued)  Pastor Rob Kemppainen wrote many songs.  He wrote for the worship services at his congregation, for his confirmation classes, for his Barbershop Quartet, and just for the fun of it.  The six songs below each have a spiritual message, told with winsome and

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3090) I. RULES, Excuses, Forgiveness (1/3)

EXODUS 20:1-4…7-8…12-17: God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or

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3050) Were the Old Days Better?

     Ecclesiastes 7:10 says, “Do not ask, ‘Why were the old days better than these?,’ for it is not wise to ask such questions.”      Do you ever ask that or wonder that?  Do you, perhaps, as the question implies, just take for granted that things were indeed better in the ‘good old

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3045) Lord, Lead Me…

Amy Grant’s 2013 album How Mercy Looks From Here contains the song Greet the Day.  This song was inspired a prayer Grant heard years ago.  Today’s meditation contains the lyrics to the song, a link to the video, and the simple little prayer the song is based on. GREET THE DAY By Amy Grant and Cindy

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2972) Whatever Gets You Through the Night

Pictured above:  Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra in 1961. ************************************* “I’m not unmindful of man’s seeming need for faith; I’m for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers, or a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.” –Frank Sinatra  (1915-1998), quoted in Frank Sinatra: My Father, by Nancy Sinatra, 1986, p. 201  ——————————————      John

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