Citizen of Heaven

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! We were told nine months ago that we would have to make temporary sacrifices for the common good. Today the situation is largely unchanged, and many are saying these measures — including church shutdowns — should stay in place indefinitely. Today we will discuss the function of the body of Christ in isolation conditions; Charles Lindbergh’...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! The Bible says nothing of celebrating Jesus’ birthday or how to do so. It’s sad that so many Christians only celebrate their Savior when they are the ones getting the gifts. Still, we can rejoice in the Lord on December 25 as well as any other day. This week we will discuss preparing room for Jesus in our hearts, and not just when the day...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Worship is the greatest privilege afforded any of God’s creatures. In a sense, we do it simply by existing, like the rocks and flowers. But we have the ability to consciously, deliberately give praise and honor to our Creator.  Today we will discuss Hebrews 10:25 and what it does and does not mean regarding our obligation to assemble; how...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! An outlaw is one who works outside acceptable and/or legal boundaries. Sometimes he is accomplishing something he would call “the greater good”; sometimes he is only concerned with himself. But one thing is constant: he does what he wants. This week on the podcast we will discuss John Wayne’s last role. And the danger in his last message f...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Edwin Crozier is the co-host of the Text Talk podcast, an extension of the work he does with the Livingston Avenue church of Christ in Tampa, Florida. Neal Grantham preaches for the  Somerville church of Christ in northern Alabama. Check out Hal on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@halhammons9705 Hal Hammons serves as preacher and shephe...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! This season is devoted to the giving of thanks to God. But as always, we often make things all about ourselves. I’m trying to do better this year, and I hope I can encourage you to do so as well. This week we will discuss the very real problem of having too much of many, many good things; the story of one who got everything he could hope f...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Cleaning yourself is one of the first jobs we learn. It helps keep us healthy, and it makes us more pleasant to be around — and that was true long before COVID-19 came along. This week we will discuss the ritual washing known as baptism; how filthy the job of priest must have been; how cleanliness may actually be next to godliness, or at l...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! One jazz master put it this way: If you know the basic chords, you can improvise and create all sorts of music. But you have to know the chords. If Jazz is freedom, then good jazz is knowing how to have freedom without chaos. This week we will discuss what rules, if any, should apply in our worship, whether “Christian spirituality” has any...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! This is the second half of my conversation with Ty Clevenger and Reagan McClenny; please check out the first part if you have not done so already. We covered the topic of tolerance in the first part; here we turn to the war climate in our country that is quickly and perhaps inevitably coming to a boil, much like it did a century and a half...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! This is the first part of my conversation with Ty Clevenger, a New York attorney well known for his political activity; and Reagan McClenny, the pulpit preacher for the Timberland Drive church of Christ. In this segment we discuss tolerance -- whether Democrats and Republicans can coexist in the Lord's church, and how we might go abou...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! God is not the author of confusion,  we are told; but His people create a great deal of it on their own in His name. This week we will discuss why modern charismatic worship is unscriptural (and selfish to boot), the crude language we could do with more of, the confusion we use to do what we want instead of doing what He says, and the only...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! We all seek to live in a kinder, gentler world. But instead of hoping the world will change when we know it won’t, we need to be working on being kinder people ourselves. This week we will discuss going the extra mile in showing kindness, the problems JD Tant had when he did exactly that, the way you can be part of the solution (or at leas...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Marriage is one of my favorite topics, and one that is in dire need of attention in our world. Today we will discuss the various applications of the “one flesh” principle; we will revisit the J.D. Tant biography and discuss the pros and cons of his philosophy of courtship; we will deal with perhaps the most selfish argument anyone has ever...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Zeke Flores may be the best preacher I know. He’s been a good friend for most of this millennium, and has been working with the Eastside church of Christ in Baytown TX for the last 7 years. When I think of local work, I think of Zeke. Andy Cantrell may be the best preacher I don’t know. I do know that his name always features prominently w...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Confession refers to a public acknowledgement. The New Testament describes two specific contexts in which Christians confess, and we will touch on both. We will discuss what it means to call Jesus your Lord, my takeaways from my very first Russian novel, the distinction between confessing sins and confessing sin, and a bit of a confession...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Communication is both my vocation and my avocation, and language is the tool of my trade. This week I am taking you behind the curtain to show you a bit of how my mind works. A terrifying prospect, that. We’ll discuss the least appreciated part of speech, why we have punctuation at all, the differences between inferences and implications a...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! We’ll cover the parallels between musical harmonies and the unity of the Spirit, how worship music can actually push people away from God, the most frequently covered song in all of YouTube, and a game in which too much talent can ruin everything.   Check out Hal on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@halhammons9705 Hal Hammons serves as p...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I’ve been preaching about heroes . The Bible is full of them, and we’ve never needed heroes more than we do today.  What are some of the issues confronting the people of God today, and what Biblical heroes can we emulate while trying to address them? I’ve been reading biographies — some focusing on spiritual activity, some not. One of the...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I’ve been preaching … about the Nephilim. Greatness in this life is usually incompatible with greatness in the eyes of God. I’ve been reading … What It Is, Is Preaching, the memoirs of Robert Turner, one of the true giants of the faith I was privileged to know. I’ve been hearing … fossilized giant footprints have been found all over the wo...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I’ve been preaching … about Babylon the Great, one of the great images from Revelation. Is it an image of New York? Let’s talk about it. (Bible condemns sin, warns of consequences) I’ve been reading … New York’s in a decline that may never reverse itself. Exactly how surprising is that, from a Biblical perspective? (Nothing is forever) I’v...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I am joined by two of my brethren in the work, Phillip Martin and Tony Mauck. Phillip is the cohost of the Do the Work podcast. He preaches and serves as one of the shepherds for the Eastside church of Christ in Sharpsburg, Georgia.  Tony is one of my oldest friends in preaching, currently laboring with the Decker Prairie church of Christ...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I’ve been preaching … about the temple of Artemis in ancient Ephesus. All physical beauty fades; God’s temple is not physical. I’ve been reading … Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats. Is beauty truth? Is truth beauty? It depends on your definitions. I’ve been hearing … women weighing themselves by the “worthy woman” of Proverbs 31 and findi...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I’ve been preaching … about the woman at the well. The original personal evangelist gives us the pattern: Tell what you know to who you know. I’ve been reading … Blue Ocean Strategy. Why try to run the denominations’ playbook better than they do? Jesus has a better plan. I’ve been hearing … online worship is becoming more and more the rule...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I’ve been preaching … about the vision Elisha saw in 2 Kings 6. Those who are with us are truly more than those who are with them. I’ve been reading … Complete Surrender, by Julian Wilson — the first biography of Eric Liddell I have read, and likely not the last. I’ve been hearing … Liddell actually fell during a quarter mile race, picked...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I’ve been preaching … about local overseers for local churches. It takes a special man for the task. Thank God for those special men. I’ve been reading … A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, by Phillip Keller. The more we learn about sheep, the more remarkable our Lord looks. I’ve been hearing … myself and people like me called “Pastor” all my li...