By: Gary L. Hutchens

   Countless sermons have been preached by countless preachers over the years about church attendance.  Countless elders meetings in countless congregations have dealt with the challenge of increasing attendance.  The results are almost always less than stellar.  Perhaps one of the biggest problems is that descriptive phrase, church attendance.  It may communicate the idea of responsibility more than need.  As such, it can sound rather cold and formal.  But it’s difficult to come up with a much better expression.  So, let’s approach the matter through a question: What’s The Big Deal?

By: Gary L. Hutchens

   I read an article that depicted a father talking to his young son.  He asked his son if he had given any thought to his future.  He might have been a bit surprised to hear the boy say that he had it all figured out.  The father asked his son to tell him about his plans.  The son proceeded to tell him that after he graduated from high school he would go on to college.  “Fine, son; then what?”  His son stated that after he graduated from college he’d get a well paying job and buy a big house and a nice car.  “Great, son; then what?”  The boy said he’d then get married and raise a family, just like his dad.  “Wonderful, son; then what?”  Well, the son figured that he’d probably work until he was old enough to retire.  “Excellent, son; then what?”  Perhaps somewhat perplexed by this time by his father’s continued inquiries, the son figured he’d live out his golden years traveling and enjoying his grandchildren.  “Splendid, son; then what?”  Realizing the inevitable, the young man said he’d die, of course!  And then his father looked straight into his son’s eyes and asked one last time, “Okay, son; then what??"

By: Gary L. Hutchens

​   Many people don’t know facts that are vital to their personal well being.  Since those facts are vital, not knowing them is a serious matter.  Many people have potentially life threatening health problems that they don’t know about.  They never noticed any symptoms, or they ignore symptoms that present themselves from time to time, discounting them as being no big deal.  Countless individuals have died from illnesses and disorders they did not know they had, though they had them for a long time.

​By: Gary L. Hutchens

​   People talk about faith in a number of different ways.  On the surface, most of those references sound good.  However, when you observe the lives of many of those same people, it becomes obvious that what they say is not consistent with what the scriptures teach true faith to be.  There is a lot of confusion on the subject.  In trying to come to a better understanding of what true faith is, we need to understand what true faith is not.

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!