For most businesses, this year typically follows the pattern of last year. And with most individuals, today nearly always bears a striking resemblance to yesterday. The majority of businesses, ministries and lives are carried by momentum. This works for you or against you. It all depends. It's the principle of the greased tracks: in whichever direction you consistently move, you tend to pick up speed. Each new day becomes a magnified version of the one before. When you’re headed in the right direction, this is a good thing. When you’re headed nowhere, it is frustrating and will stunt your spiritual growth.
 
If you have stalled out in your daily walk with the Lord or you have gotten off path you need to change direction and create a new momentum. We often save it for another day, not today, falling back on our favorite excuse: What’s the use? One day can’t make a difference. There is a little bit of truth to that. A solitary day of eating right, working right, talking right, thinking right, living right won’t make a lot difference all by itself. But do it today and do it a few times more and get some grease on the tracks and gain some velocity and build some momentum and your day-to-day efforts will give the future a whole new look. Go with God today and you will see every day with God does make a difference after all.

Clark Tatum

​     I have found that during this time of the year there is a double measure of wonderful warmth even when it is cold outside. The warmth of love and good cheer and soul stirring music fills the air. There is an atmosphere of giving and joy in light of what the Lord said, “It is more blessed to give than receive.” In a few days many of us will be opening gifts or exchanging gifts. With delightful anticipation we will remove the ribbon and unwrap the package then remove it from the box. We will respond in some fashion with a shout, a smile, a deep breath, words of appreciation, or such like. After the initial expression of thankfulness, we usually describe the gift in some way such as charming, lovely, just what I needed, and so on it goes.
 
     We have various ways of describing earthly gifts that will wear out and eventually tarnish. But how do we describe the greatest gift of all, eternal life? The birth of the Christ child changed our world. The birth, the death, the burial and resurrection of Jesus brings eternal hope. Describing this gift to others is important. We need to be careful that we do not let the exchanging of Christmas gifts to and from our loved ones overshadow the greatest gift of all—the gift of love from our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Clark Tatum

     ​Reincarnation is a false doctrine. It is the belief that when people who have lived in this life physically die, their soul is put back into another body. It is reincarnated; that is, put back into the flesh once again to live. It is staggering to hear the statistics on how many Americans believe in reincarnation. One survey (Harris Poll) has found that about 23% of Americans firmly believe in reincarnation. The number climbs to 40% if you categorize those Americans between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-nine. The main reason I think reincarnation has become so popular is that it gives a person another chance at life. Reincarnation teaches you can keep going through life until you move up the scale. This false theory implies those who live worse the second time than the first time get demoted. If they don't do any better, they may even get demoted to an animal. 
     The theory of reincarnation in this country is typically narrowed to say that reincarnation only occurs in human bodies. Regardless which version a person believes the idea of reincarnation is refuted by the Bible. Like the name of the famous soap opera, we really have “One Life to Live” so let us live it to our fullest potential in Christ (Galatians 3:26-27). We all have fallen short of the grace of God, but His grace offers new life.

Clark Tatum

​For many, life seems dull at best, and at worst, filled with anxiety and turmoil. Our nation’s constitution guarantees the pursuit of happiness as a right, but it does not guarantee our ability to find it. It often appears people are in need of a JOY transfusion.    However, they may not know where to get one. I am persuaded that no method or program would attract unbelievers to the church like the message that real happiness can be pursued and gained in Jesus Christ, the Lord.
 
Here comes the irony: most nonbelievers do not associate the concept of joy with church or Christianity. I have asked myself do they have a reason to think that way. Haven’t we been to church services where the assembly looked like they had gathered to mourn a defeat rather than a victory?  Too many Christians look like they were baptized in freshly squeezed lemon juice. God intends Christians to live a joy-filled life. The Psalms are full of invitations to come before the Lord with a spirit of gladness (Psalm 100:1-2). Brothers and sisters, we must remember that real joy does not come from things, nor is it found in some package. Real joy only springs forth from a close relationship with the Savior, Jesus.

Clark Tatum

​     Volcanoes are interesting. They are mountains with a crust that are full of molten lava. Sometimes the crust is so strong and so thick that the molten lava is kept inside; but sometimes cracks form in the crust, and the molten lava will flow out. Now, if you will pardon the illustration, we are like volcanoes in that there is a certain crust to our lives. There’s conformity in our lives, but inside the crust of conformity is a molten mass called sin in all of us. If that is hard for us to understand, it is because we don't understand that sin is not initially action against people; it is initially an attitude and action towards God. Have your sins been forgiven? 
     There is in all of us a molten mass of disobedience to God. Now, the crust may be such in some of our lives that the lava rarely bursts out, but there will be times when it will. Sometimes a little religious crack will form in our thick religious crust, and guess what will come out? The lava of sin flows in all sorts of forms. There is the flow of pride; an unforgiving current; an unloving attitude; an independent attitude of disobedience toward God. Sin needs to be forgiven by God. You could have a list as long as your arms of socially acceptable lava flows, but the crust is not important; the lava is.  Matthew 12:34-37

Clark Tatum