By: Gary L. Hutchens

​   Jeremiah prophesied during a time when Israel was on the precipice of disaster due to her own wickedness.  Over and over Jeremiah proclaimed God’s call for the nation to repent and be reconciled to Him, or else God would destroy them as a nation, allowing their enemies to conquer them and take them captive into a foreign land.  Jeremiah found few receptive ears to his continual warnings.

By: Gary L. Hutchens

​     This Thursday is, of course, Thanksgiving Day.  What a great day, and what a great purpose behind it!  A day when families typically get together and enjoy one another’s company around a special meal.  A day when people are more easy with one another, nicer.  A day when people think about their blessings and the Giver of those blessings.  A day when people take time to pray and give thanks for what they have.

By: Gary L. Hutchens

   National election day is past.  Candidates were elected to public offices all across the nation.  We were told this election would be the most important election in many years for the future of our nation.  But that assessment has been made in regard to many such elections over the past several decades.  Politics!

By: Gary L. Hutchens

​   As I write this article the 2020 national elections are still one week away.  Read that statement again.  Election day has not yet arrived!  I emphasize this fact to make it clear I am not pointing a finger at voters of any particular political party.  You will never see me promote any political party or candidate through bulletin articles I write, and certainly not from the pulpit or class lectern.  I am here addressing a situation I’ve been observing generally through much of this year and leading up to this election.

​By: Gary L. Hutchens

     Without question, the greatest blessing offered to mankind is eternal salvation.  While there is no way man can earn that blessing, it certainly cost God a great deal to offer it to man.  Sin separated man from God (Isa. 59:2).  The requirement of sin is death (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 6:23).  But since God created man in His own image and gave him dominion over all else He had created on this earth (Gen. 1:26-28), there was no living thing on this earth that the death of which could suffice to cover for the guilt of man’s sin (Heb. 10:1).  And man, guilty in his own sin, certainly could never do anything to bring himself forgiveness.  God had to give up the life of His own Son on the cross to redeem man from the guilt of sin (Heb. 9:27-28).  Jesus died on the cross to pay the debt for man’s sin, a debt that man could never pay himself and a debt that Jesus certainly did not owe.  That is why He is our Savior!