Southern Gospel News SGNScoops Digital

The Steeles at Southern Gospel Weekend

The Steeles will be singing at Southern Gospel Weekend in Oxford , Alabama on Friday March 2nd. Make plans to attend this great event  March 1-3.

Ticket info: 256-310-7892

(Over 30 artists)

Check out this great song written by Jeff Steele and son Brad…….

We’re All Human by Dr. Jeff Steele

Parable of Two Sons

Text: Matthew 21:28-31

This is not a parable that is preached on very often. Here’s the deal: Jesus has had His authority questioned by the religious crowd. These are the bean counters, the rules and regulations guys, and the ones who always question everybody else’s authority. Right, they never question their own authority, just everybody else’s.

Jesus poses a question to them. He says a father had two sons: to the first one he said, “Son, go work today in my vineyard.” The first son says, “I will not!”

Don’t judge him too harshly because that’s what we all say when the Heavenly Father knocks on our heart’s door. We all say, “No… we’re going to set up our own set of rules and regulations and we’re going to keep them and that’s how we’ll be right with You, God.”

The scripture says all we like sheep have gone astray…we’ve turned everyone to his own way! We have all sinned and come short of God’s glory. There is none righteous, no not one.

So that is pretty much the way we all responded when God first came calling.  We just said like the first son here: “No!”  Then the scripture goes on to say that after a while he/we regretted that decision and did go and do the work! That also is what we do. The Father keeps calling, the Holy Spirit keeps wooing us and eventually we realize the truth of the gospel message, realize the futility of trying to do it ourselves and we get saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Jesus continues, “He came to a second son and said the same thing.”  That being, “Son, go work today in my vineyard.” This son said immediately, “Sure I’ll go sir…I’ll do it.”  But he did not go!  No work was done.

This son is a picture of religion. This is the crowd that says “I’ll do it…just put me in charge. Make me the head of the committee; make me the boss, the chief over the whole thing. You do that and I’m ready to go.”

The problem is that when people have that mentality they spend their whole life not working but rather protecting their new position of authority. They can’t turn loose of it and they work the rest of their life to protect the position they now have and the WORK goes undone.

Do you wonder why attendance in churches is down? Why is giving down? Why is the overall level of excitement and enthusiasm down? Quite frankly it’s because the second son has taken over and everybody has a title, position and their name on the sign but nobody is doing the work.

Dr. Jeff Steele

Religion has taken over the church and religion won’t ever save you…only Jesus will.  Religion is not the answer; it is the problem!  So Jesus asked the religious bean counters: “Which of the two sons did the will of his father?” And the religious crowd said, “Why, the one who first refused and then later went and did the work.”

Jesus said, “You’re right and I tell you that tax collectors, prostitutes, robbers, crooks and thieves will enter the kingdom of God before you religious bean counters.”              Isn’t that amazing? Religion will give you an upset stomach, send your blood pressure sky high, make you stew at home over what “others” are doing down at the church…ultimately it’ll kill you!  Then at the end of the way it will not deliver you into God’s Heaven.  Religion won’t save you…only Jesus will!

First published October 2014 in SGN Scoops digital magazine.

For current articles by Jeff Steele, see the latest edition of SGN Scoops on https://www.sgnscoops.com/

December 2014 SGNScoops Magazine

December 2014 SGNScoops Magazine

Merry Christmas from SGNScoops! We hope you are enjoying this special time of year. Take a moment to relax and share this gift we are giving to you this Christmas.

Breaking Down The Walls

courtesy waynestiles.com

By Dr. Jeff Steele

Jericho was a very immoral city. Part of the reason for their immorality was the power they believed was in their city walls. They didn’t even believe God could get through their walls and affect them. As long as they were inside those walls they thought anything and everything they did was hidden from, and they were protected from, God. So bad was this city that when the spies went in to scout it out they only found ONE “believer” and that was a prostitute named Rahab!

She actually owned and operated a house of ill repute right there in the red light district of Jericho. I know some folks that are so holy and righteous that they don’t want to believe that but read the bible. She is what they found and that is what she was doing! That ought to prove to all of us that you can’t judge a dog by its mother and you can’t judge a book by its cover. No matter how we categorize people and judge them to be the kind of person God would never use or speak to God can speak to whomever He chooses, whenever He chooses, wherever He chooses!

This lady Rahab is even in the genealogy and lineage of Jesus. The question is not “why would God speak to a prostitute?” The question is “why would He speak to me and why would He speak to you?” It is called grace. Noah found it in the eyes of the Lord. Rahab found it through a red cord. Jonah found out about it sitting under a gourd and thank God I found it in God’s Word, the Sword. Grace is the gift of God to sinful (and what other kind is there?) man and no, we don’t always understand it, but where we need to question it the most is when we recall how it was extended to US!
Joshua had a very unusual encounter just before the Children of Israel that were under his command approached Jericho. It is found in Joshua 5 beginning in verse 13:

13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”

15 Then the Commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Who was this visitor that appeared to Joshua with his sword in his hand? I believe it was none other than Jesus himself! Why do I believe that? Well in Revelation 1:17 John saw Jesus in His glorified state in heaven. This was the post-crucifixion, post-resurrection, after-the-earth-experience Jesus. When he saw Him, John said, “I fell at His feet like a dead man.” Joshua did the same thing! The scripture says, “he fell on his face on the earth and worshiped.” This commander told Joshua to “take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” That is the same thing the Lord said to Moses from the burning bush! This was Matthew’s messiah. He was Mark’s wonder worker. He was Luke’s Son of Man and John’s Son of God. He was none other than Jesus Christ of Nazareth who was and is the Son of the Living God! Forgive me, but when you’ve been with Him the walls that surround your life don’t seem nearly so big and tall anymore.

Note that Joshua didn’t even ask what this visitor’s name might be. Rather he asked Him “are you for US or are you for our enemy?” The soldier answered, “Neither. See I did not come to take sides, I came to take over!” That is the message many need to hear from God today about your own life. “I’m not here to take sides, I’m here to take over.”

Dr. Jeff Steele

Abraham Lincoln, arguably our greatest president, once said, “I’m not nearly as concerned about whether God is on OUR side as I am whether we are on GOD’S side.” He is the take-over God. He is ready to take over what we will GIVE over to Him. That marriage problem, that financial problem, that church trouble, that medical situation, that child who just WON’T do right! God is ready to take over and when He does the walls that surround you don’t have a chance. They HAVE to fall, they don’t have a choice because “greater is He that is in YOU than he that is in the world!” It’s time to get behind the man with the sword in His hand. It’s time to see the walls fall and conquer the city.

By Dr. Jeff Steele. First published by SGN Scoops digital magazine in June 2014.

For current issues of SGN Scoops visit https://www.sgnscoops.com/

Four Days of Waiting by Dr. Jeff Steele

How long can four days last? Jesus loved to visit the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Sometimes when the crowds got to be overwhelming, the road got to be a little too long and He needed to just get away for a while, Jesus loved to retreat to their home for some old-fashioned rest and relaxation.

He loved these three people as well. Mary used to challenge Him with theological questions about what He taught. Then to demonstrate that she had an innate belief in what He said about Himself, she was known to have broken open an alabaster box and poured expensive perfume on Him as an act of worship. Yes, Jesus loved Mary.

He sure did love Martha too. Everybody loves a good cook and Martha was really a super cook. She could take a pot of turnip greens, throw a chunk of ham in there and change it from greens to greens! Jesus loved that. Come to think of it, I do too.

Lazarus was His good friend. They laughed together, probably fished together, discussed the sports and politics of their day; yes, Lazarus was a good and trusted friend. I see why Jesus loved their place so much.

One day though, as it does in every home, crisis came. Lazarus got sick. Not just a little sick, really sick. In fact if you read the story from back to front you know that in fact Lazarus died from his illness. Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus: “Lord, the one you love is sick.” They expected Him to come.

Well, they sent Him the message about a sick relative and He didn’t come. He didn’t call; He didn’t even send a card that said He was remembering them in prayer. In fact, the silence from Jesus to their request was deafening! They must have been confused, especially when Lazarus died. There was still no word from Jesus.

“He ate our food, now He can’t even send us a word to let us know He got our message,” Martha must have said. I’m sure Mary must have wondered aloud, “He acted like He enjoyed my company, He knew I believed in Him and now He is nowhere to be found.” Perhaps their thought was that they overestimated their friendship with Him. Maybe they or He overestimated His ability to actually do all the things He talked about, and now that a real situation existed that would ‘put Him to the test,’ He just steered clear to avoid embarrassment. They must have wondered about all of these things.

All they knew was that they had a need that only He could meet and He was not anywhere to be seen.

You’ve been right there, haven’t you? “Lord, I have not missed a Sunday. I’m a teacher, a deacon, a committee member, I give, I sing in the choir and I’ve supported missions. Nobody’s been more faithful than me and now I have a need, and I’ve asked you for help, and You haven’t come!”

For Mary and Martha it was four days after Lazarus died before Jesus showed up. They were asking, and some of you are asking: “How long can four days last?”

Four days. The time between when we KNOW we have a need that only God can meet and the time when He shows up to do something about it.

There are several things you can know during your four days of waiting: Number one: You can know that He IS coming. He may not come when you WANT Him to come but He IS coming! So while you’re waiting don’t come out of the prayer closet, don’t throw away your Bible, don’t stop coming to church, don’t stop serving or sharing or participating in the work. Just know that no matter what it looks like or feels like, Jesus is on the way and He WILL be there and when He gets there you want to be found ready and waiting for Him.

Number two: You can know that He already KNOWS what He’s going to do when He gets there. Just like He may not come when you want Him, He also may not do what you have asked Him to do when He gets there. If He doesn’t then rest assured what He does will be better than what you asked for in the first place.

Mary and Martha sent word and asked for a healing. Jesus, knowing what He was going to do when He got there, knew that a resurrection beats a healing any day of the week! They didn’t get what they asked for – they got something better! And as a result after Lazarus was raised, the scripture says many got saved!

Dr. Jeff Steele

Number three: What you go through during your four days of waiting will end up being for YOUR good and God’s glory. Paul said in Romans 8:28 that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Hang on, pray on, believe on and press on. Even in the four days of waiting that many of you are in right now, remember that He’s coming, He knows what He’s going to do when He gets there, His plan is better than ours anyway and He has promised and He is bound by that promise that everything in our lives (good, bad and ugly) is working out for OUR good and His glory!

Written by Dr. Jeff Steele, a monthly columnist for SGN Scoops digital magazine. For current issues, visit https://www.sgnscoops.com/

Published by SGN Scoops in August 2014.

Our Help Is In The Lord Alone by Dr. Jeff Steele

My subject this month is from Psalm 121 and it’s “How to Find Hope in a World That Is Hopeless.” In verse one of Psalm 121 we see that if we are going to find hope we must LIFT UP OUR HEADS! “I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” There is no hope in looking down. There is only help and hope in the Lord!

Folks I learned it the hard way…any idiot can tell you when everything is wrong. It takes a born again, Spirit filled, Bible believing, blood washed, on their way to Heaven and eyes on the prize Christian to survey the situation and look UP with HOPE for the future. No wonder people are upset at their government. A lot of us are disappointed in ourselves! Well, the simple truth is that we can only be upset and disappointed in what we THOUGHT was going to help us and we can’t help ourselves and we (as believers) should have never been looking to the government for our help because our help comes from the Lord!

A lot of people have reduced our Christianity to a religion of Do’s and Don’ts. If I DO this God will be happy with me. If I DON’T do that then God will be happy with me. Hey…there is nothing…NOTHING you can do in your own strength that will EVER impress God.

The truth is that we think WE can help ourselves or that someone…the government or whoever is going to help us and only God can do that. Our help comes from the Lord! Any time we are disappointed in somebody or something it is because we were depending on them for something they couldn’t do anyway…HELP us.

Psalm 121 also tells us that our God is awake. Verse 3 says it, verse 4 says it…our God does not slumber nor sleep. It 1989 He was awake when my father passed away. I know He was awake because I was talking to Him and He was listening to me. He was awake when President Obama was elected to office. He was awake when he took the oath of office. He was awake when Healthcare legislation passed. You’re single and don’t like it but God is awake. You have received bad news from the doctor but God is awake and He will be your helper in the midnight! He will lead you to the right mate for life. Why? He’s awake!

Six times in this Psalm it says “He will KEEP you!” He will keep you because He is awake. Presidents, kings, dictators, preachers and potentates may all go to sleep for a while but our God never sleeps!  While the Healthcare bill (that many of you hate) was passing God was awake. I know He was awake because we had two to join and one was baptized at our church that SUNDAY! He wasn’t feeling defeated and deciding to nap on Monday to recover from a bad weekend.

I know He was awake because TWO were saved in my office Monday afternoon AFTER the Health care legislation had passed!! A young lady who was so shy that when she prayed to receive Jesus I had to look up and watch her mouth move to make sure she was praying. That’s OK because she didn’t have to roust God out of a “long winter’s nap” to get His attention. He was awake and as she received Him, He received her. A young man with tears streaming down his face prayed to ask Christ into his heart and God didn’t throw back the covers and with a disgusted look on His face kick His feet and reluctantly get out of bed. No…He was awake and heard the young man cry out for mercy and help and He helped him with salvation that only He could give!

Do all the politics you want to do but please don’t ever fear that our God can’t help or that He is somehow asleep for He can help and He never slumbers nor sleeps! As the old spiritual says…He’s an on time God…yes He is!

And I will look to the hill where my helper is and I will know…HE is awake An old timer once told me “the Lord is awake and if He’s awake…there’s no sense BOTH of us being up…I’m going to bed!”

Thanks so much to Dr. Jeff Steele for his commitment to bringing our SGN Scoops readers awesome truths from the Bible in every month of SGN Scoops digital magazine!

This devotion was first published in December 2013 in SGN Scoops magazine. For this month’s magazine and Dr. Jeff Steele’s devotion, click on to https://www.sgnscoops.com/2014/05/17/may-2014-sgnscoops-magazine/

March 2014 SGNScoops Magazine

We are excited to present the March Issue of SGNScoops Digital Magazine. On the the cover this month is Weston And Christy Hinson. Read how Weston and Christy are carrying on the legacy of the Hinson name as the continue the tradition of singing great gospel music. Also read the scoop on the solo ministry of Joseph Habedank and catch the latest on the ministry of David Timms. Mike Rogers of Brian Free and Assurance is featured in this month’s Younger Perspective, and don’t miss the latest from Jason Runnels. We have several special interest stories this month. Don’t miss a concert story on The Mark Trammel Quartet, Gospel on the Seas and Miss Whatcom County. Dr Jeff Steele, Kelly Nelon and Jennifer Campbell share encouragement and Ms.Lou Hildreth shares her legendary stories. Music reviews plus news about the Ozark Gospel Music Convention, Creekside Gospel Music Convention and the Diamond Awards are all all found inside the beautiful March Edition of SGNScoops Magazine. Always digital, always free and always good. Please share with your friends, family and fans.

November 2013 SGNScoops Magazine

We are excited to present the November issue of SGNScoops Magazine! A picture is worth a thousand words, right? The cover this month captures the Spirit of this year’s 2013 Creekside Gospel Music Convention! The spirit is certainly the spirit of Joy! The smiles almost tell it all, but catch the details of this year’s event along with a listing of Diamond Award winners in this issue. Also, this month’s issue is not the typical predominately Southern Gospel Music Magazine. We’re just a bit on the COUNTRY side! This month, we’re shining the spotlight on Christian Country like never before. Don’t miss Rick Kiser’s story, “Christian Country Gives Thanks,” as well as features on Sharron Kay King, Steve Brown, Greg McDougal. This month also features Providence Quartet and Canaan’s Crossing. Lorraine Walker and Rob Patz put together a fabulous Thanksgiving article allowing the Southern Gospel Community voice their gratitude. We all need our spirits boosted, so don’t miss encouragement from Sherry Anne and Dr. Jeff Steele, and don’t miss reading Lou Hildreth’s special memories. A story on “Mary Anne Oglesby and The Veranda” is sure to warm hearts of families dealing with Alzheimer’s and we hope will inspire other churches to care for the aged in their congregations. Award winning Songwriter, Belinda Smith shares her ministry and Ethan Whisnant shares his “Younger Perspective.” Read about latest music, Christian Fitness, and more in this this well-crafted, beautifully designed online magazine. Remember, SGNScoops is digital and free! Please share with friends!

July 2013 SGNScoops Magazine

Welcome to the July edition of SGNScoops Magazine. We are pleased to showcase the legendary ministry of the Kingsmen Quartet! The Kingsmen have been singing the gospel since the 70’s. Our cover story reflects on the heritage of the Kingsmen and gives their latest news. Also in this issue, enjoy reading about the latest in the ministries of Renaissance Revival, Steve Ladd, and Tribute Quartet. Enjoy the Younger Perspective featuring Ms. Hope Bowling of the Bowling Family. Get a re-cap on the Memphis Quartet show, a concert review on Triumphant Quartet and don’t miss the review on the 18th Annual Father’s Day Concert too. Make sure you catch up on the latest developments of the Creekside Gospel Music Convention and make plans to be with us in October as we honor Ed O’neal and host the Diamond Awards. And- there is more! See what music is hot this month, get Christian fitness tips, be encouraged by Dr. Jeff Steele and get the inside scoop on the Women’s Homecoming taping with Ms. Lou Hildreth- all in this free issue of SGNScoops Magazine. Thanks to our SGNScoops team and we say, welcome to our newest staff writer, Craig Harris! Please enjoy and share!

You Are Invited To Creekside Gospel Music Convention 2013

For More Information www.creeksidegospelmusicconvention.com