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).

by: Gary L. Hutchens

​   Just how important is it to be at services when the church meets?  As Christians, we need to always be examining ourselves to make sure that our lives reflect true faithfulness (2 Cor. 13:5).  We also need to seriously reflect on our spiritual well being.  Just how strong is our faith?  We need to not do anything that could put our souls in jeopardy.

By: Gary L. Hutchens

​   It has long been said that the most effective advertising is word of mouth!  That does not discount the value and importance of standard forms of commercial advertising, such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, internet, and so on…  If there was no value in commercial advertising, newspapers would pretty much shut down, radio stations would go off the air and television spots on the Super Bowl would not be running in the millions of dollars per spot.

By: Gary L. Hutchens

​   As we enter into a new year, there’s a question that ought to be up front in everybody’s mind: “How’s My Relationship With God?”  At about this time every year people consider how their lives are going.  They reflect on what happened to them last year and look ahead to what is realistically appearing for them on the horizon.

by: Gary L. Hutchens

​   Today is the last day of the year 2017.  Since the first day of this year was on a Sunday, and this last day is also on a Sunday, there have actually been 53 Sundays in this year rather than the standard 52 in most years.  That’s just a tidbit of trivia.  I remember looking ahead, during much of my life, to the year 2000, thinking it was a long way off!  Now, we’re finishing up the seventeenth year of the new millennium, as it was called, meaning it’s no longer new.  Time truly does fly by…

by: Gary L. Hutchens

​   Tomorrow, multitudes of people in this country and around much of the world will supposedly celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Many will attend some kind of special church service in His honor.  Others will simply feel special feelings about the Savior as they go about the day.  Specific references to the birth of Christ will be uttered in prayers by some.  A large number of people will get drunk.

by: Gary L. Hutchens

​   What a travesty that many people commit acts of evil in the name of serving God!  It’s easy to get some things confused.  In most wars, for example, both sides commonly pray to God for guidance, protection and victory.  Opposing political candidates will often each ask God’s blessing upon their candidacy.  People on both sides of some social issues invoke God’s name in the position they take, suggesting thereby that God is with them and against the opposing position.  Such demonstrates the inconsistency and frequent shortsightedness of human reasoning.