Author Archives: Pastor Tom Rush
A Channel for Comfort, 2 Corinthians 1:2-11
The world seems to have gone mad. The recent mass shooting in Las Vegas is symptomatic of just how evil our world can be. But God’s people suffer from many other types of issues as well. Why doesn’t God just end it all? One day He will but in the meantime we have to find […]
The Gift of Grace, 2 Cor. 12:1-10
In good times and bad we can know that God is with us, willing to use us, and faithful to help us through whatever we face because of His amazing grace. In our text we find Paul sharing the highs and lows of his ministry. As he describes his experiences we should remember that they […]
Objections Overruled
The second lesson in our series “Broken Vessels: How God uses Imperfect People” deals with God’s power to use us in spite of our weaknesses. The example is Moses, whom we recall was used by God to lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. Moses had his excuses and used them but […]
A Fresh Start
Part of our Bible Study series for the Christian Index. Text – John 18:15-18, 25-27; 21:15-19 For the next six weeks we will look at God’s grace in restoring “Broken Vessels: How God uses Imperfect People.” There are two things God’s people often pray about and long for. One is the eradication of evil. Because […]
First Things First, Haggai 1:2-13
This blog is part of our Bible Study series written for the Christian Index. Haggai was a contemporary of Zechariah. Both prophesied in Jerusalem shortly after the return of the exiles from Babylon under Zerubbabel (Ezra 5:1-2; 6:14). The first task was the rebuilding of the Temple, but the returned exiles faced much opposition. Like […]
Encourage One Another
christianindex.org/bible-study-july-9-encourage-one-another/ Acts 11:19-26 There are two things that should encourage the church – the saving of souls and the planting of new churches – whose purpose is saving souls! The church at Antioch became the center of a great church planting movement. What joy this brought to the Lord and what an encouragement to the […]
Sharing Christ
With baptism numbers in the Southern Baptist Convention at the lowest level since the 1940’s I would submit that we need to take more seriously exactly what God’s mission for the church is. The following is a Bible Study lesson originally prepared for the Christian Index. We meet the earliest followers of Jesus in John 1. […]
Restoring our Moral Conscience … Why the Ten Commandments are Essential
We are living in a day when the things of God are mostly ignored in society. Sadly the church is often just as guilty as the society of ignoring the things of God. Last year we were all deeply saddened at the tragic and senseless murder of nine church goers at a Wednesday evening prayer […]
Walls, Borders and Strangers
There is new rule in case you missed it. You are not a Christian if you believe in border security or building walls to protect the nation’s security. So says California Governor Jerry Brown. Long known as a great theologian and expert in the Christian faith, Governor Brown recently declared this new tenant of the […]
Getting God’s Mind about Alcohol, Part 3
There are three reasons a pastor, and for that matter any professing Christian, should be a teetotaler: because of the Social Impact, the Scriptural Injunctions, and the Spiritual Influence. In a previous article we covered the social impact of alcohol. We turn our attention now to the next point. THE SCRIPTURAL INJUNCTIONS AGAINST ALCOHOL One […]
Pastor Tom Rush
Pastor Nathan Rush
Pastor Tom and Nathan Rush