It’s a Great Time Not to Worry Rev. Tony Cooke As I’ve traveled all over, it’s been interesting to see how people are handling the pressures and tensions in life. Just recently, an individual from the east coast told me, “People around here are on edge all the time.” Mickey Rivers, a one-time outfielder for […]
Things Aren’t Always As They Seem Tony Cooke Charles Spurgeon and his wife owned chickens, and people noted that they never gave any of the eggs away, but would only sell them. Some people felt they should have been more generous and accused them of being stingy and greedy. The Spurgeons were aware of these […]
The God of New Beginnings Rev. Tony Cooke Lamentations 3:22-23 22 Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. This is a beautiful way of saying that God is ever ready to forgive, to restore, and to renew. He is […]
Multi-Dimensional Ministry Tony Cooke One thing is certain about ministry; it is not one-dimensional. Ministry requires that we be able to adapt ourselves and our methods to different people and to different situations. Consider some of the following Scriptures that express this necessity: Romans 12:15 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those […]
Another Look at Multi-Dimensional Ministry Tony Cooke This is a sequel to a previously published article here. As a young Bible school student, I heard Brother Hagin emphasize three major aspects of Jesus’ ministry that are mentioned in Matthew 9:35. “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the […]
More Than a Sermon – More Than a Preacher Tony Cooke It’s amazing how we can focus on certain aspects of Scripture at one point in our lives, only to see richer, broader, deeper thoughts in surrounding and complementary passages as we mature through time, growth, and experience. For example, when I was a Bible […]
Mastering the Paradoxes of Ministry Tony Cooke A paradox involves the presentation of two ideas which seem to be contradictory, but are in fact, complementary. A few classic examples in Scripture of paradoxical statements are: “…when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10) We are in the world, but we are not […]
Are You Making Pearls or Just Getting Irritated? Rev. Tony Cooke There is a great lesson for us in understanding the formation of pearls. Natural pearls are formed when a grain of sand or another object slips in between one of the two shells of the oyster. Because of the irritating nature of the sand, […]
Loving the Old Testament By Rev. Tony Cooke For the past several months, I have been reading the Old Testament slowly and systematically, and it has done my soul good. I have always majored on the New Testament, and I’m sure that this will always be the case; after all, that is OUR Covenant. But […]
Are You “Looking After” or “Looking Up?” Rev. Tony Cooke Perhaps you’ve heard about the little boy who was given an orange by a man. The boy’s mother asked, “What do you say to the nice man?” The little boy thought for a second, handed the orange back, and said, “Peel it.” There’s a little […]
Someone once said, “I might pick a rosebud off a tree, and it would be a rosebud and no more. The one I love in all the world might pluck a rosebud off a tree and give it to me, and it would be a rosebud and a great deal more. The meaning would be changed because she gave it to me.” … read more
Living Deliberately By Tony Cooke Every time January rolls around, people begin speculating about what the New Year will bring. One individual said, "My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there." As understandable as that perspective is, Winston Churchill emphasized the importance of maintaining focus […]
Is it Live, or is it Memorex? By Tony Cooke I remember a decades-old television commercial from Memorex, a company that made cassette tapes. A glass was shown sitting on a table while the voice of Ella Fitzgerald was heard singing. When a certain high note was hit, the glass shattered and the viewer was […]
Process, Event, and the Little Red Hen By Tony Cooke Many years ago at a church service, I gave an altar call and a handful of people responded; one of these being a boy in his early teens. I had a self-congratulatory thought as though I was somehow responsible for these responses. Reality came quickly […]
Limitations: The Ones We Respect and the Ones We Transcend Tony Cooke There are two types of limitations. There are legitimate limitations that we should respect, and there are perceived limitations that we should transcend. Wisdom in life is knowing which limitations are valid and are to be respected, and which limitations are illusions that […]
Lessons from a Fallen King Rev. Tony Cooke We are going to look at a person in the Bible who never realized his full potential in God. The person I speak of is Saul from the Old Testament. Saul is not one of the more positive role models given to us in the Word of […]
The Last Skill Spiritual Leaders Learn Tony Cooke Video Message: Skills Part 1 Video Message: Skills Part 2 Whether it’s learning to tie your shoes or driving a stick shift, life is a series of skill acquisitions. It doesn’t matter if you are a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker, you must have […]
When Labels are Fables Tony Cooke I’m curious. Who has defined reality for you? What is the basis for how you see yourself, the people around you, your circumstances, your destiny, and your world? How much of your sense of reality has been defined by your parents, your education, society, and the media? The world […]
Jurassic Park and the Incarnation Rev. Tony Cooke You’ve probably seen the movie, Jurassic Park. It’s the story of some ambitious geneticists who embrace the undertaking of creating living dinosaurs from the DNA of extinct dinosaurs. The endeavor is going so well that a theme park is being built around the exhibition, but then things […]
Was Jesus a Jedi? By Tony Cooke Biblical Texts: 1 John 1:5; Acts 17:16-34; John 14:6 Introduction and Overview Very few people in this country are unfamiliar with the term, “Jedi,” but in case you are, let me give you some background. The first Star Wars movie came out in 1977 and was followed by […]
A Jealous God? Rev. Tony Cooke Jealousy is often thought of only in a negative light, and there has been no shortage of negative examples to reinforce such thinking. In its negative expression, ungodly jealousy is a carnal, ugly trait associated with insecurity, fear, covetousness, and suspicion. It was Shakespeare who called jealousy a “green-eyed […]
Involuntary Heroes Rev. Tony Cooke John F. Kennedy is a great figure in American history, and is well-known as our thirty-fifth president. After graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy and was put in charge of a U.S. Navy Torpedo Boat, PT-109, in the Pacific. When he and his crew were on a […]
Are Indulgences Making a Comeback? Rev. Tony Cooke One of the movies I’ve enjoyed in recent year was about Martin Luther’s ministry leading up to and through the Protestant Reformation (the title of this work from 2003 is “Luther”). In it, his grief over the unscriptural practice of indulgences is clearly seen. The “Pocket History […]
In Memoriam Barbara Bennett Cooke (1923 – 2011) While sitting at the breakfast table on Monday morning, January 24, Barbara Cooke slipped peacefully into eternity. Like many of her era, she was born in the family home in Boonville, Indiana on September 23, 1923. In her youth, mom was very athletic. She played softball, tennis, […]
Image vs. Substance: Avoiding the ‘Saul Syndrome’ and Cultivating a ‘David Heart’ By Tony Cooke There wasn’t anyone who seemed to be better “kingly material” than Saul. Scripture tells us, “…There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the […]
