Preacher's Blog

Our preacher, Mark Stinnett, publishes articles for the church bulletin each week. These articles are designed to teach, encourage and challenge the members of our congregation. His latest articles can be found below with the most recent at the beginning of the list. Mark has archived all of his articles on his personal blog 'MicroMarks' which can be accessed at: micromarks.blogspot.com.

  • Senseless

    We call them senseless because we search for meaning but cannot find any reasonable explanation. I am referring to the senseless violence that has occurred over the past several days, two school shootings, a woman being stabbed while riding on public transportation, and most recently the assassination of Charlie Kirk, an outspoken political and religious personality.


    An outcry of sorrow, but also of anxiety, follows the school shootings. Speculation about the woman’s stabbing is fruitless, yet no one is thinking that the murderer was justified. Sadly, the reaction to Kirk’s death was immediately mixed.


    Major news outlets and social media exploded with both outrage and sympathy. Yet, many who voiced sympathy also made political jabs against Kirk and his ideals. Then, there were extremists who were bold enough to applauded his death.


    These senseless acts of violence seem to affect us more profoundly than tragedies overseas. They affect our kids, threaten our public safety, touch our beliefs and values. They did not happen somewhere else but in our ‘backyard.’ They each affect us differently, yet all heighten our awareness that we live in a broken world and it doesn’t seem to be getting better.


    As Christians, what do we do? How do we react? What do we say?

    The Scriptures provide guidance.


    First, Jesus dealt with the news of senseless acts of violence in His day. The Roman governor, Pilate, had apparently ordered the death of some Jews from Galilee and mixed their blood with their sacrifices. (Luke 13:1-5) It was a hot-button issue of that day and caused outrage among some. However, Jesus’ response suggests that they were not as much angry with Pilate, but wanted Jesus to address the apparent guilt of the Galileans. In other words, they thought those Galileans must have been some really bad people for God to have allowed such a thing. They wanted Jesus’ opinion.


    Jesus pulled their attention away from the headline news of the day with a statement that some might consider insensitive, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this way?” Jesus was telling them that their focus was in the wrong place.


    Would you like Jesus to weigh in on the violence of our day, give His divine opinion on the matter?


    Jesus walked this earth as deity in the flesh. He existed before His earthly ministry. He had a perspective that we may overlook. He saw Cain kill Abel. He saw the condition of the world at the time of the flood, the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, the violent Assyrians attack Israel, His own people offering children as sacrifices, the desecration of the temple in Jerusalem by the Greeks. He had seen it all and the events of His day were nothing new.


    Jesus did weigh in on the senseless matters of His day. He came to “seek and to save the lost” and “to give His life a ransom for many.” He did not think that He would end war and violence on the earth. Rather, He opened the door to God’s kingdom. He calls for you to change your thinking about the headline news and realign your focus to God and His kingdom!


    Second, “The anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” (James 1:20) So, curb your outrage.  Refrain from social media outbursts and from your own senseless opinionated banter. Instead of expressing your liberty of free speech, capture God’s attention. Use your voice in the quiet of your room...on your knees...in humble prayer.



    Mark Stinnett

    September 14, 2025

  • Why I Pray for Understanding

    To emphasize the importance of discernment the preacher remarked that Christianity was a thinking religion. Dissatisfied, one woman quipped, “If they would just tell me what I need to do, I could do that.” (No thinking.)


    A friend told me about his experience in the church of his youth. He had questions. He asked questions. He wanted understanding. He was shut down with answers like, “That’s just the way it is.”


    A young lady visited several churches asking for help in understanding the Bible. Church folks kept telling her that she just needed to have faith.


    Sometimes biblical teachings are clear and unmistakable. Yet, there are some teachings that are not so black and white. So, we need discernment.


    You may remember Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron.  They were priests and had received instruction about offering incense to God. They decided to change God’s instruction and “offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.” (Leviticus 10:1) A person could reason that they did not break a command because what they did was not prohibited. And yet, they did something different than what they had been told to do. They should have applied discernment and reasoned that God’s specific instruction excluded their ‘strange’ incense mixture.


    Jesus taught, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,’” a teaching from the Law of Moses regarding the strict application of justice. And yet, Jesus taught that God’s people should learn to turn the other cheek, that is, absorb an injustice. He was not updating the Law or superseding the Law but communicating the need to think about the strict application of the Law. After all, would you want to be the one to carry out the consequences of putting out someone else’s eye if your eye was accidentally put out?! The simple point is that unquestioned obedience to the Law would have Israel full of people who were crippled, one-eyed, missing teeth, etc. However, after giving thought to the outcome of strict obedience, voluntary mercy and forgiveness would prove to be a better way.


    In the Parable of the Talents two of the servants were given a sum of money. They put the money to use for their master. However, another servant hid his money and later returned it to the master. He was rebuked because he should have known what to do. He should have thought more clearly!


    After telling several of the parables Jesus concluded by saying, “He who has ears, let him hear.” This stood in stark contrast to the cry of the Old Testament prophets. They warned God’s people of divine judgment because the people had eyes but did not see and had ears but did not hear. Jesus was calling for ears that were attentive to His message in the parables. The people were to listen and then ponder the parables. Some of the parables have no further explanation. It appears that Jesus believed that those parables could be understood both then and now by applying discernment. At other times His listeners voiced their lack of understanding and asked Jesus to explain. To those who asked, He explained!


    “Ask, and it will be given to you” applies to discernment in Bible study. It applies to the application of Scripture in our daily lives. God did not speak to mankind and have His word recorded to keep understanding hidden. He wants us to understand! In the first psalm David wrote that he meditated on the Law day and night. He craved understanding and received it.


    Wisdom tells us to study and meditate on God’s word, to strive for understanding. 

    Wisdom tells us to ask. 

    Remember to pray for understanding.


    Mark Stinnett

    September 7, 2025

  • What is a Gift?

    I have a beautiful Bible sitting on a shelf in my office. It is the older King James Version that I seldom use. I did not need another copy. I did not want another copy. It was a gift.


    It’s a larger edition KJV Bible with gold gilding, multiple ribbons and an excellent genuine leather cover (not bonded leather). It has many nice features, and it looks good, smells good, and feels good to the touch. I looked it up online and found that it is an expensive edition. It was a gift.


    It was not given so that I could find it a new home. It was a gift...to me.


    It was given to me by an older friend with whom I had studied the Bible. Our friendship grew out of our mutual love for the Lord. When she heard that my family and I were moving away, she wanted to give me a gift to show her love and appreciation. She gave a beautiful, expensive Bible


    I do not know if buying such an expensive Bible was a burden to her. Nevertheless, because it was expensive and brand new, I knew that it meant something to her. It was a costly gift and it was intentional.


    Even though I do not need that Bible and though I almost never use it, I keep it. It means something to me. It is called sentimental value. It reminds me of my friend and her sacrifice. It reminds me of our friendship.


    Have you ever given a gift that was a dud? It is true that many husbands have made mistakes by choosing gifts for their wives that were practical but not sensible. (Think, vacuum cleaner.) And yet, this is not the ‘dud’ that I am thinking about. Rather, have you ever given a gift that was appropriate yet under-appreciated or even rejected? You were sure it would bring joy, but you could see the disappointment on the person’s face. Maybe there was a kind smile and a “Thank you,” but you knew it was not genuine.


    Let’s shift to yet another aspect of gift-giving. Have you ever rejected a gift. Perhaps, you received and accepted the gift, but you later ‘regifted’ it or simply set it aside...rejected. And, unlike my lovely Bible, the gift you received did not hold sentimental value. After all, you had made a list of potential gift ideas, but the gift-giver went ‘off script.’ You felt that the giver had not really listened. You felt disappointment, no joy.


    Let’s pause here and agree that gift giving can be complicated. Even so, think about the way you give and how gifts have been presented to you. Think about the joys and the disappointments. Would you agree that, in general, the greater the sacrifice, the more meaningful the gift?


    Now, think about God.

    God is the giver of all good things. Everyone accepts the gifts God has given through creation, such as, sunshine, rain, natural resources, crops, etc.


    The most precious and expensive gift that God gave was His Son Jesus. It was a gift of life for the purpose of fellowship with man. Many want this gift, but few embrace it because it is a gift that has conditions. To embrace God’s gift of life a person must no longer embrace the life this world offers. Only a few are willing to die to this world in order to embrace life eternal.


    We, in return, give to God. But what can we possibly give? He’s made it easy by telling us what He expects and accepts. We offer to God: genuine thanks, a broken and contrite spirit (humility), faithfulness, obedience, worship. Even our service to others is regarded as a gift to God: justice, mercy, kindness, physical/financial assistance, even a cup of cold water.


    This week, think about your giving, but do so in light of God’s gifts to you.



    Mark Stinnett

    August 31, 2025