Faith

PASTOR’S CORNER, Mark Cress, First Southern Baptist Church, Liberal

When we hear his name, we associate it with great strength – and Samson was definitely physically strong. But we also associate Samson with great weakness – his self-reliance, casual relationship with God’s law and his Nazarite vow (no haircuts, no alcohol, no physical contact with dead carcasses – Numbers 6:1-21), and his insatiable desire for women.

It’s ironic how physical strength and spiritual weakness often go hand in hand.    

One of the mistakes we make when reading his story in Judges 13-16 is the assumption that Samson didn’t really go off the rails until his encounter with Delilah. It’s easy to look at the last step that directly leads to someone’s demise and think that it was the last step that did them in.

People rarely, if ever, ruin their life in a single moment. So how does it happen? It happens one small step at a time.

PASTOR’S CORNER, Mark Cress, First Southern Baptist Church, Liberal

Have you ever tried to bargain with God? Is there an ongoing negotiation right now in your spiritual life?

Maybe you’ve never spoken these prayers out loud, but have there been similar silent dialogues like these?

“Lord, if you give me that job with the massive pay increase, I will be incredibly generous with the extra income.”

PASTOR’S CORNER, Mark Cress, First Southern Baptist Church, Liberal

G.K. Chesterton said, “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

I was talking with a man once who shared a story with me about his neighbor who had gone above and beyond the call of duty to serve him while he was laid up after a surgery. After hearing the story I made a comment about how grateful he must have been to have the help of his neighbor. The man responded to that comment by saying, “Yeah, I probably should have said something to express my gratitude. Oh well, I’m sure he knows my heart”.

Sometimes we say crazy things… “I’m sure he knows my heart”? My wife tells me I’m too literal, but every time I hear someone say that, I can’t help but wonder (sometimes out loud) if the person they’re talking about is a cardiologist. I’m all for believing the best about others, but in all reality, how can anyone really know your heart unless you take the time to express what’s on your heart?

PASTOR’S CORNER, Chuck Scroggs, Central Christian Church, Liberal

Oh no! What is going on? My social media is down! I have no YouTube, X,  What’sApp, or Instagram. Even my Facebook is gone! I picked up my phone and something has happened to it! I am unable to call out I have lost all my connections with the outside world! I got rid of my landline and now I have no backup to call or connect to my family and friends. I hurried to my computer thinking “Surely my e-mail will work – it won’t be as good as my phone or Facebook but at least I will not be completely cut off.” Oh NO! I am cut off because even my computer is down.

That means my smartphone is not going to work either. I decided to go get in my car and head toward town thinking surely somebody will be open, but when I got in my car and tried to start it, there was no response. A voice from my OnStar kept saying: “You are unauthorized to operate this vehicle.”  OnStar had a signal challenge and was keeping me from using my automobile. Living alone was never a problem with all these forms of media, even being so far out in the country. The only thing in my house that was connecting me to the outside world was an AM radio.