By: Gary L. Hutchens

​   “What does the crucifixion mean to me?” is about as profound as any question could be.  Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ went to the cross and died in order to pay the debt for our sins.  We are all sinners (Rom. 3:9-10, 23), and “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).  The scriptures state that God “made Him Who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).  The sense of this verse is that Christ bore all the guilt of all sins for all people for all time on Himself on the cross.  What incredible love, what an incredible sacrifice!

By: Gary L. Hutchens

​   If God did not create man, where did man come from?  Many would say that faith in God as the creator is a blind leap in the dark, a belief that cannot be proven by empirical evidence, a position that contradicts hard, objective, scientific facts.  Is it?

By: Gary L. Hutchens

   What is wrong with people?  Why do so many people do such wicked things?  Why do they lie, cheat, gossip, steal, fight and kill?  Why do they so casually use filthy, profane, disrespectful language?  Why do they bully and abuse others around them?  Why do they sexually assault women and children?  Why do they get caught up in alcoholism and drug addiction?  Why do they sell drugs, taking advantage of people so addicted?  The answer within one word?  Sin!

  By: Gary L. Hutchens

​     These are truly troubling times!  This world is engulfed in a turmoil of violence and chaos resulting from a culture of violence that sweeps around the globe.  The problem is widespread; it crosses national, ethnic, racial, social, educational, economic and religious lines.  The violence takes different forms and is based on different reasons, motivations and ideologies from place to place, group to group and person to person.

By: Gary L. Hutchens

​   It’s probably fair to say that most people have a poor, or at least a very limited, understanding of God’s grace.  It seems that most people equate grace almost exclusively with salvation.  The connection is definite and profound, but that’s not all there is to God’s grace.  Peter admonishes, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18).  How does a person grow in grace, and is it important to grow in grace?

by: Gary L. Hutchens

​   Once saved, always saved!  A whole lot of people in the denominational world believe that.  Their belief is connected to a flawed understanding of God’s grace.  Without question, we’re saved “…by grace…through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9).  We cannot save ourselves by ourselves.  We cannot earn our salvation.  We are totally dependent upon God’s grace.

by: Gary L. Hutchens

​   There may be no more important Bible topic than that of God’s grace.  These days a great deal of emphasis is being given to teaching on the grace of God.  Unfortunately, most of the emphasis seems to be very narrowly focused.  As a result, much of what is being taught on the subject is short-sighted, some of it is outright wrong!

by: Gary L. Hutchens

​   What kind clothes do you wear?  What kinds of stores do you shop in for your clothes?  What brands do you buy?  People dress in all kinds of styles, based upon the occasion and their personal tastes.  Formal, business, business casual, casual, athletic, relaxed, grunge…  The styles keep changing.  We’d be mortified today to be seen dressed in some of the “cool” clothes we wore fifteen or twenty years ago.

by: Gary L. Hutchens

​   I picked up the title and theme for this article from a church bulletin I receive by email each week.  I expanded the basic thought and developed it in more detail.  I hope this will motivate each of us to reflect upon our personal commitment and active participation as members of the Lord’s church, in general, and of our congregation here at Sunny Slope, in particular.

by:Gary L. Hutchens

​   God’s word is “living and powerful” (Heb. 4:12).  God guides us and communicates His will to us through His word (Ps. 119:105).  The gospel message of salvation is revealed to us in God’s word (Rom. 1:16).  By reading His word we understand that it is through the gospel that we are actually called to salvation (2 Thess. 2:13-14).  His word guides us as to how to live a faithful, productive Christian life after coming to salvation (2 Tim. 3:15-17).  It is no wonder that God instructs us to diligently study His word in order to be able to correctly understand and apply it to our lives, and to stand approved before Him (2 Tim. 2:15).