Oct 7, 2021 | Wednesday
Years ago, when you were much younger, you spent five hours hiking up into the mountains. The trail was narrow and not very well used, but it took you over ridges and into valleys with such beauty that you kept pushing on. It was late in the day when you finally...
Sep 30, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
John Clarke began his earthly life on this day, October 3rd, 1609 in Suffolk County, England. We don’t know when he began his spiritual life, but it appears to have been at an early age. He was well-educated, not only receiving degrees in England but also from...
Sep 13, 2021 | Sunday Evening
I hope you believe that God is God. Do you understand what I mean by that? I don’t mean, I hope you believe that Jehovah is God, or Elohim is God. That is an eternal truth. I mean: I hope you believe that God is truly sovereign. Sovereignty is a part of the definition...
Sep 12, 2021 | Sunday Morning
Speaking through Malachi, God has been correcting and criticizing both Israel’s priests and her people. Those priests, as part of the leadership of the nation, should have been setting a godly example. But they were accepting and offering corrupt sacrifices from the...
Sep 10, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
The early Baptists in Connecticut were persecuted by the state, especially in the area of ministerial taxes. Everyone, by law, was to pay an assessed amount for the support of the local Protestant minister. The Baptists, on principle, refused. They were often taken to...
Sep 9, 2021 | Lessons on Bible Trivia
I don’t know if it is true of every pastor, but this pastor has been getting unsolicited suggestions to buy stuff. And one which has come up recently, over and over again, are materials dealing with “ministerial burn-out.” “Ministerial burn-out” is a term which...
Sep 6, 2021 | Sunday Evening
Do you see the word “voweth”in this verse? “Cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and VOWETH, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing.” If I am not mistaken, that word takes us from Israel’s required sacrifices to their freewill offerings. This...
Sep 2, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
On this day (September 5) in 1651, Obadiah Holmes was whipped nearly to death in a public ceremony. His crime was only that he was a Baptist trying to serve the Lord according to the principles of the Bible. But Holmes is not the subject of this history. When Holmes...
Sep 2, 2021 | Wednesday
So Satan has once again come to you; this time through the portal of your conscience. For the umpteenth time you have committed that particular sin – that special weakness of yours. What was it? Pride over something you’ve done? Coveting something your neighbor has?...
Aug 29, 2021 | Sunday Morning
If you were going to define “salvation” according to Biblical terms, what words would you use? If you need some help, let me give you some suggestions. When Zacharias, the father of John Baptist, had his voice miraculously restored, he began to praise God. One of the...
Aug 28, 2021 | Daniel Pearson
We have great news! Greater Vision has grown in its membership and the Pearson have grown in its family numbers! Mrs. Perason will be having another Pearson baby. Our newest member is due December 18th. We are excited and very thankful for God’s grace to bless us with...
Aug 28, 2021 | Frank Tottingham
Dear Pastor and Church, “That ye may know that ye have eternal life” 1 John 5.13 July – September 2021 Praise the Lord for new births! Another soul has been born again, and Shelley and I have become grandparents! On the 14th of June, Caitlin and...
Aug 28, 2021 | Mike Meredith
Dear Pastor and Church, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.” Psalm 68:19 I recently asked prayer for Luke who had stopped attending services. In the past two weeks he has been back for some...
Aug 28, 2021 | Raymond Johnson
Dear Bro. and Sis in Christ: The Work in Talihina The Lord has blessed us with a one new member and our attendance has been stable. The Sunday school is slowly growing and the Lord answered prayers, we now have four Sunday School classes with four teachers. We hosted...
Aug 26, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Thomas Baldwin died on this day (August 29) in 1825. Baldwin had been born 72 years earlier in Bozrah, Connecticut. Having a love for books, he decided to prepare for a profession as a lawyer, but the Lord had other plans. When he was seventeen he was brought under...
Aug 26, 2021 | Wednesday
Let’s say that I did something to offend you, and, as every Christian should, I came and apologized. What should I think, if you put your hands on your hips; your eye-brows narrowed; you raised your voice; and you crisply said, “I forgive you?” Should I believe your...
Aug 24, 2021 | Lessons on Bible Trivia
Dear Praying Brothers and Sisters, “Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving; withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ” (Colossians 4:2-3). Our witness and work for Christ is utterly...
Aug 23, 2021 | Scott Silvers
Greetings in Jesus Name, We would like to begin our Spring 2021 update by giving thanks to our Great Savior. 2020 was a year that most of us were glad to put in our rear view. From great social and political problems to the loss of many dear friends and family it was,...
Aug 22, 2021 | Sunday Morning
Before we get into the application of this scripture, please remember the historical context. Malachi, the last of God’s Old Testament prophets, served the Lord after Israel returned from Babylon. Some commentaries place his ministry during the days of Zerubbabel, but...
Aug 19, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
In these days when church after church is throwing aside the name “Baptist,” people need to consider the life and choices of Isaac Backus. On this day (August 22) in 1751, Isaac Backus was dipped into water as a testimony of his faith in Christ. A man who had been...
Aug 19, 2021 | Wednesday
Much of the Book of Malachi compares and contrasts God’s blessings to Israel’s whining. For example, as we have seen, the Lord reminded the nation that He loved them. But Israel retorted, “Wherein hast thou loved us, Lord?” God answered, “Haven’t you seen the...
Aug 15, 2021 | Sunday Evening
This scripture, along with Paul’s explanation and application in Romans 9, are among the most hated passages in the Bible. They are also among the most abused of all scriptures. Then a result of that abuse, they have become some of the most misunderstood by Christians...
Aug 14, 2021 | Timothy Parrow
Dear Pastor and Brethren: Beautiful Service! We had a beautiful service Sunday, the Fourth of July. It was the first time in eleven years that the Fourth of July has fallen on the Lord’s Day. Sis. Gaches sang the first verse of our National Anthem as the congregation...
Aug 12, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Over the course of several years, there were forty-three different Baptist preachers arrested in Virginia for preaching the gospel. According to historical records, the least among them, the most meek of those preachers was William Webber. He was born on this day...
Aug 12, 2021 | Wednesday
What do you think it would it be like, if you were the last servant of God on the face of the earth? It will never be, and it could never be, because God’s Word forbids it, but just think about it for a moment. If it was true, how would you feel? After you, never...
Aug 8, 2021 | Sunday Morning
The threat of questioned love is often used as a tool for evil. For example, have you ever heard a child, with a whine in his voice, say to one of his parents, “If you loved me, you’d let me do this or that”? “If you loved me you wouldn’t enforce a curfew on the...
Aug 5, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
I am currently reading a book which was highly recommended by Spurgeon – “A Body of Divinity” by Thomas Watson. It is a study and exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith – the first major doctrinal statement of the early Presbyterians. It was produced about...
Aug 1, 2021 | Sunday Morning
This message may sound very morbid, but it doesn’t have to end that way. I am taking my title from Jonah’s words to God – “It is better for me to die than to live.” We shall see similar sentiments from Paul, Job, Moses, and others, and there was Elijah’s death-wish at...
Jul 31, 2021 | Timothy Parrow
Dear Pastor and Brethren: One Visitor in June In June, we had one visitor, Mark, who came on a Sunday and then on a Wednesday evening. On Wednesday evening he came in and sat through about half of the song service and suddenly got up and left without saying a word. He...
Jul 30, 2021 | This Sunday in Baptist History
John Comer was born on this day (August 1) in 1704. He grew up hearing the religious instruction of the famous Increase Mather, father of Cotton Mather. But that preaching didn’t produce any eternal effect. And then Comer became deathly ill. Through that disease, he...
