Sep 14, 2023 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Brother John Kerr was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia. Even while serving his state as a member of the United States Congress, the Lord blessed his church with at least two periods of great revival. In 1831 the church recorded 555...
Sep 14, 2023 | Wednesday
Half a century ago, when I first arrived at Bible school, I entered its doors as an impressionable teenager. Three years later, as I graduated, I was not quite so pliable and malleable. I had a tiny bit of education; I was married by that time; I could almost grow...
Sep 7, 2023 | This Sunday in Baptist History
I have often referred to the religious persecution which was legal in many of the first American colonies and which was then carried over into some of this country’s first states. Over time, and with much hard work, eventually religious liberty became a matter of law....
Sep 7, 2023 | Wednesday
At our prayer meeting last Saturday, I shared James 4:8 with the men who were there. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” After a few of my simple remarks, one of the men asked: “How do we draw nigh to the Lord?” Quickly I fired off a couple more shallow...
Sep 4, 2023 | Sunday Evening
Let’s say that a man drove up and parked a brand new Lamborghini Urus automobile in your drive way. Then he walked up to your door, rang the bell, handed you the keys and some paper work and walked away. Let’s say some extraordinarily rich person gave you a $250,000...
Aug 31, 2023 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Henry Jessey, the son of an Anglican minister, was born on this day in 1601. His father wanted Henry to follow him into his Protestant ministry, so he was sent to some fine British schools. It was quite apart from that education, that the Lord brought him to his knees...
Aug 31, 2023 | Wednesday
I make no apology for coming back to yet another consideration of the doctrine of the devil. As I have said several times recently, Satan is a real and powerful spirit creature. He has us on his radar, and I am sure that he has been disrupting our efforts to bring...
Aug 27, 2023 | Sunday Evening
We call it “Noah’s Flood,” but it wasn’t Noah’s at all; it was the judgment of the Almighty God on other sinners. It was, without question, the most astounding, mind-boggling event in the annals of time. It was the most creation-changing, the most negatively...
Aug 24, 2023 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Adoniram Judson was this country’s first foreign missionary – serving in Burma. When he and his wife left this country, sailing for the Orient, the couple were going as missionaries of the Congregational denomination. During the long voyage, in preparation for his...
Aug 24, 2023 | Wednesday
There are churches whose primary doctrine is to have no doctrine at all. I know that sounds ridiculous, but what I mean is they deliberately have no doctrinal position on much of anything. For some denominations, like the Quakers, that is their official policy. They...
Aug 20, 2023 | Sunday Evening
Let’s begin with a brief explanation of this scripture. Peter begins with the gospel – Christ died in order that wicked, ungodly people, like us, might be saved. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to...
Aug 19, 2023 | Timothy Parrow
Dear Pastor and Brethren: One New Visitor! On the sixteenth of this month, we had an unusual visitor come into our service on Sunday morning, late and apologetic for so being, and very courteously acting for interrupting my preaching. We took the time to...
Aug 17, 2023 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Jehu Shuck was a Virginian, born in that state in 1812. He was born again as a young man, and the Lord called him into the ministry. Two days after marrying, Henrietta, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J.B. Jeter, the Shucks set sail for China as missionaries. Mrs. Shuck...
Aug 17, 2023 | Wednesday
There are people who are willing to do the hardest and most extreme things in order to be saved. There are people who beat and cut themselves, thinking they earn God’s forgiveness for their sins. There are people who starve their bodies, and starve their emotions, in...
Aug 14, 2023 | Sunday Evening
The other day I was sitting at my desk, taking a break from my studies when I began to feel sorry for myself. Yes, your pastor is a sinner just like everybody else. There was no lust or envy involved, no jealousy, and I may be wrong, but I don’t think there was any...
Aug 13, 2023 | Sunday Morning
In this scripture, the Lord Jesus and His disciples were taking a short break from their Israelite ministry. They were in the area of Caesarea Philippi, to the northeast of Galilee, under the shadow of Mt. Hermon. Taking the opportunity to do some doctrinal teaching,...
Aug 11, 2023 | This Sunday in Baptist History
How many people are required for the proper establishment of a Baptist Church? Gustaf Palmquist was born in 1812 into a family of seven children in Sweden. At some point, his mother came under Holy Spirit conviction, but turning to her Lutheran priest, she was told...
Aug 10, 2023 | Wednesday
I know very little about the sport of boxing, and that suits me just fine. But I have heard of the boxer’s use of the “one/two combination.” As I understand it, if he can connect a second punch to a good first punch, he can score a point or two. And it makes sense to...
Aug 7, 2023 | Sunday Evening
We have had many references lately to Hebrews 11 – Paul’s great study of faith. One of the highlights of that chapter is verse 6 – “But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them...
Aug 6, 2023 | Sunday Morning
The Gospel of John goes out of its way to show us the Lord Jesus in an especially brilliant light. It puts the eternal Son of God in the spotlight – particularly in the spotlight of His divine glory. I wouldn’t say that the other gospels don’t also do that, but they...
Aug 3, 2023 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Today, I am going to combine our history vignette with our testimony of the day. Jesse Babcock Worden was born on July 18, 1787, into a Christian home. He was the youngest of nine children. Because of his large family, and because there were no schools there in...
Jul 31, 2023 | Sunday Evening
(How can different people read one passage of Scripture and reach drastically different interpretations? One explanation is that we all have a storehouse of information tucked away in our heads and hearts. And as we are reading, those definitions we have learned, and...
Jul 30, 2023 | Sunday Morning
I was visiting with our camp speaker, and he asked me what I was considering for this morning’s message. I told him that I was thinking about “Moses’ Choice.” Out of blue he completely changed the trajectory of my thoughts. He asked, “Don’t you get nervous using some...
Jul 29, 2023 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Thomas Patient was born in England. After attending either Cambridge or Oxford and becoming a Congregational minister, he came to America to serve the Lord in an atmosphere of freedom. While here, he discovered that he hadn’t been scripturally baptized, so he turned...
Jul 23, 2023 | Sunday Evening
It is easy for a pastor to assume that his church members all believe the cardinal doctrines of that church. For example, he might think that everyone is expecting the imminent return of Christ, and everyone is convinced of the absolute sovereignty of God. Everyone...
Jul 20, 2023 | This Sunday in Baptist History
By the middle of the 16th century the Dutch city of Nijmegen had become famous for its weaving industry, and the family of Jan Block had become wealthy in that trade. Jan became a local celebrity, well-known for his lifestyle of sin and partying. Attracted to this...
Jul 20, 2023 | Wednesday
We have all heard the colloquialism: “as light as air.” This can be a misleading comparison. Actually, air has a bit of substance, weighing 14.7 pounds per square inch at sea level, and about 12 pounds per square inch in Denver, a mile above the level of the sea. In...
Jul 16, 2023 | Sunday Morning
Many of you ladies are wearing a diamond ring. My wife has told me many times how much she loves the marquise diamond I gave her fifty-five years ago. To me, a diamond is a diamond, but to many women, diamonds are important – and so are their various shapes and...
Jul 15, 2023 | Timothy Parrow
Dear Pastor and Brethren: A General Report Although several have been sick or absent for some reason, our attendance numbers run as follows for the four weeks of the month: 10, 11, 11, and 6. We had Ellie and her daughter, Mia, Jose’s granddaughter, visit with...
Jul 14, 2023 | This Sunday in Baptist History
The history of, John Clough, an early American missionary is too astounding for the average Christian to believe. Certainly it can’t be possible that his ministry lead to the salvation of so many souls that during a period of six weeks, over 8,500 Telugu nationals...
