Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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As a young girl, I can remember my mom saying, “I have so much to do, I can’t even think!” At the time, that didn’t make much sense to me. However, I can now better understand what she was saying. She was saying she was under a lot of stress and couldn’t think straight. She wanted peace and a quiet mind. Does that sound familiar to any of us today? We all want peace of mind in these uncertain days. We all need that peace and quiet… not escaping from our new unprecedented responsibilities and way of life, but finding quiet in the midst of th...
Imagine for a few moments what your life was like approximately one year ago. Whatever you imagine, never would you have believed that a year later you, along with others, would be where we are today. The world is a different place altogether. We can obviously identify any number of personal and social issues, but it is, of course, this global health crisis which has paralyzed us in any number of ways. The physical, emotional, social, economic, and yes, spiritual challenges have placed us into a life position in which we find ourselves unable...
Some people think hell isn’t gonna be all that bad – especially since all their friends are gonna be there! But here’s the truth of it – hell is eternal darkness and solitude, in eternal flames and agony! Hell is a forever separation from God. Jesus describes Hell as a place where the worms that eat you never die, and the fires that burn you never go out. Now, it is true – all your friends MIGHT be there with you, but they’re gonna be all alone in everlasting torment just like you, so no, Hell is not just a worse version of this life – Hell...
It finally happened in the heat of this Summer. Our Sidney High School Seniors were able to have their graduation ceremony this past Saturday morning. It was a very unusual ending to a most unusual school year. Hopefully our graduates were encouraged with this final event of their school careers after the disappointment of not being able to enjoy so many other year end activities. As a community we want to once more congratulate our Seniors, and wish them the very best in the days to come. As a community of faith in God, we are also praying...
Last week, many evenings were spent protecting my plants under the patio because of bad weather warnings. No one likes bad weather, but it is nice that we have warnings to prepare us a little ahead of time. Life is not all sunshine. Neither is it all bad weather. But life, which Jesus says is like a house, must be ready for all weather. In Matthew 7:24-25 Jesus tells us, “Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds b...
“But Pastor, is it okay to protest?” “Did Jesus ever do it? Didn’t He just preach the Gospel and didn’t waste His time doing that kind of thing?” “Don’t you think we should stop wasting our precious time in distractions and just preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ?” “This is all politics.” These are some questions and comments we have heard during the last few weeks. Actually, some of these, we have heard for years. They come from pastoral colleagues, family members, brothers and sisters in our churches, and the community in general. Some churche...
Among the residences on the north side of Sidney stands a church building, a building acquired by prayer and private support. A crew of workers from Mississippi recently spent a week at the church providing a much-needed facelift. Billy Matkins, group leader, said the group was connected with The Well, through Terry and Dana Pickins of their North American Missions Board. The Pickins call themselves fulltime missionaries. He left his electrical and plumbing business, and she walked away from...
Americans are stunned. In the first five months of 2020, not only have we been discouraged by political battles and world-wide pandemic devastation, but most recently we have also been shocked and angered by a racist crime which has resulted in nation-wide protests, as well as lawlessness. This latest tragedy has exposed the fact that “we the people” are still struggling to be “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” As in other times of national upheaval and crisis, the problems are once again being well documen...
Matthew 5:1-16 5 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the [a]earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For t...
Busy! Busy! Busy! That describes the lifestyle of so many people. We’re busy at work – busy at school – busy at church – busy in the community. And soon we will be busy with all of the holiday events of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Too often our calendars fill up so quickly and leave us feeling exhausted. We over commit ourselves and seem to constantly live “life in the fast lane.” The urgent things crowd out the important things. Even the good things we do are done at a frantic pace. And when the dust finally settles, we often don’t have...
M y wife, Andi, and I have 2 sons and 5 grand-children, with Matrix being the oldest at age 15. When he was around 6 or 7, Matrix would sometimes stay over at our house for the night. One Friday morning Matrix and I walked over to our church to get things set up for Sabbath worship. As I was getting things ready, Matrix decided he was going to have a sermon and went up to the pulpit to preach like Grandpa. He paused for a moment, wrote a little, paused, wrote a little, then he began to speak…“I love Grandpa, and I love Grandma.” Then he would...
I would like to start this article by telling EVERYONE GOD LOVES them, He does not like the way we live sometimes but He does love us. We read John 3:16 and hear about it a lot, “GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE”. Romans 10: 9,10 tells us that IF we confess Jesus as Lord and Savior and believe in our heart we will be saved. That is all true, but that’s the beginning of being a CHRISTIAN, ( Follower of Christ/Little Christ) this is not a one time event but a begin...
So, speaking of fishermen, let’s talk about Jonah! God called Jonah to go to that great city of Nineveh to fish for people. You remember the story: God told Jonah to “Go!” and Jonah said, “No!” So, Jonah booked passage on the first boat he could find headed west – the exact OPPOSITE direction he should have been goin’ to get to Nineveh! We’re just like that, ain’t we? Sometimes God asks us to do things we really don’t wanna do. And we will do anything and everything we can to avoid doin’ what God wants us to do! God wasn’t gonna take “no...
As I sit in my office to write this article, I realize that I have been blessed once more. In 2017 I got to write an article just before Christmas is celebrated in Western churches and now I get to write an article on the day the Christmas season ends in many Eastern churches. These twenty six days are almost a whole month. In the Eastern churches which still use the Julian calendar, today is the Feast of Theophany. The feast commemorates the baptism of Jesus by John the Forerunner. John has been preaching, calling the people to repentance and...
I recently visited with a friend who is a manager of a health foods market in Grand Island. He spoke of the many people who desired to eat healthy as one of their many New Year’s resolutions. My friend wondered how long this noble intention would last. His bet was it would not last. Rather, as good as this resolution was for these individuals, it would be short-lived. I do not hear of New Year’s resolutions today as I heard of them in the past. Are people becoming a little more realistic? Is the bar set just a little too high? Is this a mer...
As I write this, there is a strange quietness in our house. All the Christmas gifts have been opened, the New Year welcomed and family members have returned to their homes and their lives. Yet, there is a sense of warmth that remains from that special time with family, as we rejoiced in the birth of the Christ Child and the New Year God gave to us Christmas and the New Year are a good time for Christians to reflect on what God has done for us and all creation. He began by creating us and making us precious in His sight. ….and He has a plan f...
It’s Christmas time, once again. It’s that time of year, if you live in a big city as I used to, when everything that should be peaceful becomes a rat race. If you are a working person, it has become a time of parties and eating cookies, having a drink or two before going home. The stores are jammed with last minute shoppers who never seem to know that they had several months to get that all done. What we seem to have forgotten most, is whose birthday it is anyway. We seem to be a lot like the kids on the old Spike Jones recording who kee...
HOUSTON (AP) — A judge on Thursday denied an emergency request for relief funds by three Texas churches damaged during Hurricane Harvey that are suing the federal government over how it offers disaster aid to houses of worship. The churches are suing the Federal Emergency Management Agency over a policy that denies disaster assistance to nonprofit organizations with facilities that are primarily used for political, athletic, vocational or religious activities. The three houses of worship accuse FEMA of religious discrimination by denying t...
Hope defined: A favorable and confident expectation. We live in a current world that is Chaotic at best, what used to be right seems to be wrong, and what has always been wrong, all of a sudden has become right. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason, and people seemed only concerned with themselves. Isaiah 9, gives us reason for HOPE. The Word of GOD declares the Messiah (JESUS) would be born, and would give GOD’s people a reason for hope and confidence. The Messiah (Jesus) would bring Light to a dark and Hopeless world, that he w...
The Gospel of Luke records this familiar account during the ministry of Christ on earth: “As Jesus was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? W...
Jesus’ gift of peace overcomes anxiety Are you anxious? Are you afraid of something? I feel a lot of anxiety around us. We’re afraid of people who are different from us, the others. We’re worried about the economic climate of our city. Maybe we’re just anxious and we don’t know why. The Gospel of John records that the disciples met together on the first Easter Day. They had heard reports that the tomb of Jesus was empty, but they had no proof. And they were afraid: “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors o...
Mothers are teachers. Mothers are disciplinarians. Mothers are cleaning ladies. Some mothers are gardeners and mowers of lawns. Other Mothers are expert bakers and window washers too. Mothers are nurses and doctors and psychologists and counselors and chauffeurs and coaches. Mothers are developers of personalities, molders of vocabularies, and shapers of attitudes. Mothers are soft voices saying, "I love you." Mothers are a child's first impression of God's love. Mothers are all of these things...
Today as I drove my big "ole" yellow Sidney school bus into the bus barn, I realized the tank was getting close to empty. Knowing Rod our maintenance man was out on a driving assignment and I needed diesel today, Tim said he would fill it for me. I told him I would follow him to the station as I did not have a credit card. He gladly agreed to have me go with him and we filled up both buses. As we were standing there waiting for the pump to kick off giving us an indication that the tanks were...
FOR SALE: One grave – slightly used – just like new. Here is an advertisement that you will probably never see in this newspaper or hear on our local radio station. That’s because graves and tombs are not normally used for just a brief amount of time. However, this advertisement could have appeared in the “Jerusalem Sun-Telegraph” two thousand years ago. The crucified body of the Lord Jesus Christ had been buried in a tomb just outside of Jerusalem, but his body was there for only three days. And even though a rumor had been started which acc...
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! That is the triumphant shout we will hear in churches around the world on Easter Sunday Morning. Yes, we have a lot to shout about...the resurrection of our Lord! God revealed his strong love for us in his son, Jesus Christ, Who died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and life eternal. "For God so loved the world that He gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 Often we focus so much on the las...
