Mike Riley Sermon Outlines, Articles, Lessons, etc.

“Am I My Brother’s Keeper?”

The above-titled question was asked by one of the members of our Wednesday evening Bible class, and is an excellent question worth pondering over and answering before we enter the New Year. This question was taken from the response of Cain to God’s question as to the location of his brother Abel in Genesis 4:9. […]

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“Seven Days Without God Makes One Weak”

The above parody title was the message that I recently noticed on a local Baptist church sign. This short title speaks volumes regarding the health of our spiritual life. Seven days without God and His word, not only will make one spiritually weak but over a period of time, can lead to spiritual death (2 […]

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The Many Facets Of Baptism (1)

Many sincerely religious folks have a very narrow view about baptism and this includes, sad to say, many that claim to be members of the Lord’s church. To many people, baptism is seen only as an initiation into the church. Some think baptism is a sacrament. Others say it is not necessary for salvation. Still […]

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The Parable Of The Great Banquet – An Application

A querist asks, “How can we make application of Luke 14:12-14 in our lives? In Luke 14:12-14, our Lord addresses a host (a chief ruler of the Pharisees – Luke 14:1) and states, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor your rich neighbors, lest […]

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What About Occult Practices?

A querist asks, “What about occult practices, such as divination, reading tarot cards, or fortune tellers? Or looking to astrology to see how to plan each day of your life? Or trying to speak to the dead through mediums?”

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What About Tattoos?

Many folks today are getting tattoos for various and sundry reasons. Some are even putting them all over their body in order to make some dramatic statement about themselves, or as a motivator for other

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“The Day Of The Lord”

One of the prominent themes of the Old Testament was “the day of the Lord” (Isaiah 13:6-NKJV; Isaiah 13:9-NKJV;

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Where True Peace Can Be Found

People of the world are constantly looking for inward peace, but they are looking in the wrong places. Peace is not found in acquiring more “things“ (Luke 12:15), nor is it found in entertainment or pleasure (Hebrews 11:24-25).

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The Abuse Of Power

Our society has a saying that “power corrupts”. When man is authorized a certain amount of power, the temptation and tendency has always been to abuse that power or authority in favor of selfish gain, i.e., money, influence, prestige, control, etc. In this article, let us look at eight Bible examples of people who became […]

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There Is No Love Without Sorrow

Brother Gary Henry, evangelist for the Broadmoor Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee, has written an above titled article in which he states that to love, is to open ourselves to the possibility of one of three sorrows (and in some cases, all three).

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Taking Too Many Pills? Just Take One — The “Gos-pill”

Every time we turn on the television, we are bombarded by all kinds of advertisements promoting different kinds of pills. There are allergy pills; headache pills, sleeping pills, energy pills, weight loss pills, etc. Wouldn’t it be great if someone could just develop one pill that would cure everything?  Just think, no matter what was wrong […]

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God's “Good Man”

From a study of God’s word, we know the characteristics of a godly woman (Proverbs 31:10-31), but have we ever thought about the characteristics of a godly man? We can see the characteristics of God’s “Good Man” (Psalm 112:5) in Psalm 112. I have included Adam Clarke‘s commentary, but the godly characteristics should be self-explanatory:

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Why Do The Righteous Suffer – “Why Me, Lord?”

Sometimes trials seem to come one right after another. You wake up in the morning and your car won’t start. This unfortunate event makes you late for work, your boss chews you out, and your whole day is ruined. You later find out that your car won’t be repaired for another week and the bill […]

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How Far Away Is God?

For years now, I’ve been reading about folks who think that God lives far, far away in some nebulous twilight zone, not caring about either His creation or His creatures. To them, He’s a hard-to-find God, for whenever trouble arises in their life, they ask, “Where is God?”

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Will We Fly Solo?

Flying solo into the clouds of trouble and pestilence is not such a good idea, for it can lead to bad behavior patterns, causing us to retreat into defeat (Joshua 7:1-5). Like the Israelites, we may spin out of control and into literal despair (Numbers 14:1-4). Note that when the majority of the spies brought […]

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Another Year Is Dawning

Another year is dawning, Dear Master, let it be, In working, or in waiting, Another year with Thee.

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“Simply Learn To Be Violins”

The story is told of an old violin-maker who chose the wood for his instruments from the north side of the trees, because this was the side that faced the fiercest windstorms. When the storms raged, the trees would groan under the lashings, but this is what gave them their strength.

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Give Me The Bible

One of the most popular hymns in our hymnbooks is “Give Me The Bible” written by Priscilla J. Owens. In the lyrics of each verse, Ms. Owens illustrates the following Bible truths:

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The Use Of Figurative Language In Scripture

In the Bible, God often expresses a truth in its usual sense (literal). He frequently, however, uses a symbol, a story, or other more figurative language. For example, it is literally true that God cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). And yet, how this truth is beautifully expressed with so much more impact in Psalms […]

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In Matthew 27:9-10, Who Was Matthew Quoting?

A querist asks, “In Matthew 27:9-10, we read a quote supposedly from Jeremiah, but the quote isn’t from Jeremiah, but from Zechariah 11:12-13. Why is this quote taken from

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