Aug 20, 2017 | Sunday Morning
Do you have any scars or wounds that you are carrying around with you today? By the time people get to be my age, most of us have a dozen nice scars and a healing wound or two. One day, earlier this week, as Sahalie was getting ready for bed, she asked me about scars....
Aug 17, 2017 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Jehu Lewis Shuck was born in Alexandria, Virginia in 1812. After his conversion, he attended the Virginia Baptist Seminary, which ultimately became the University of Richmond (the Spiders). In 1835, Bro. Shuck married, Henrietta, the eldest daughter of Pastor Addison...
Aug 17, 2017 | Wednesday
Solomon is worried about his children – his many children. “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.” “My son, walk not thou in the way (of the fools).” “My son, if thou wilt receive my...
Aug 13, 2017 | Sunday Morning
Recently, while in Denver, I was squeezed by a relative into buying a large collection of postage stamps. Very little of it has anything to do with my own collecting interests, but I did it as a favor. Among other things, there is a lot of early United States postal...
Aug 13, 2017 | Sunday Evening
As quite often happens, this morning’s message didn’t go the way I originally intended. Thursday, as I sat down to prepare, I had a plan in mind, but the Holy Spirit had another. And as is usually the case, the Lord won the day, and my message ended up different than...
Aug 10, 2017 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Gustaf Palmquist was born in Sweden in 1812. While he was still young, his mother was brought under conviction by the Holy Spirit. When she sought advice from her Lutheran pastor, the best he could do was to assure her that church membership and her deep piety was...
Aug 10, 2017 | Wednesday
At our house there are three cats – not so much by our choice but by theirs. Venus lives inside, Grey lives in the front yard and Joy lives in the back. It is a reasonable arrangement for them, because, basically, they only tolerate each other. Quite often in the...
Aug 7, 2017 | Sunday Evening
We looked at this scripture just recently, considering, what we might call, the Spirit’s secondary purpose. Going back over my notes, I decided to approach it a second time considering the Lord’s primary purpose. And that is in spite of the fact that Baptists are...
Aug 6, 2017 | Sunday Morning
Have you ever had a really, really sore finger or toe? I am talking about the kind of hurt that makes you jump every time you touch it? I am talking about the proverbial “sore thumb.” This history of Ananias and Sapphira stick out of the Book of Acts like...
Aug 4, 2017 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Jesse Babcock Worden was born in 1787. He was the ninth of nine children. Various circumstances united in such a way that Jesse was raised totally illiterate. When he was twelve, he did not even know the alphabet. However at about that time he became burdened about...
Jul 31, 2017 | Sunday Evening
If I was given the word “pillar” in a word association test, and I had not just read these verses from the Old Testament, I’d probably think of some sort of Grecian column. I doubt that anyone thinks of “guidance” in any relation to the...
Jul 30, 2017 | Sunday Morning
Do you remember the first time you read the Book of John, or Romans, or Revelation? I know that this may be asking you to reach back a long way, and so this will be difficult. But if you can remember your first venture into the Book of Daniel or Song of Solomon it...
Jul 29, 2017 | Timothy Parrow
Dear Pastor and Brethren: Three Visitors in June! Friends of Bro. and Sis. Dick Gaches, Bob, and his wife Dana, visited with us from the state of Hawaii during a Thursday evening Bible Study. They come to visit their friends here in Stillwater about every seven years,...
Jul 27, 2017 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Thomas Patient was born in England. After his education at one the nation’s most renowned schools, he became a Congregational minister, before emigrating to America. Once over here, he came into contact with some Baptists, which caused him to reexamine the ordinances....
Jul 27, 2017 | Wednesday
Because of our fallen natures, there is a natural tendency to turn away from these two verses. But before you do, please recognize that they are far more positive than negative. They are not as harsh as someone might first think. For example, there are three...
Jul 24, 2017 | Sunday Evening
Obviously, here is a scripture which talks about money – riches, wealth. We have positive comments, like – “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” We have positive exhortations, such as – “Having food and raiment let us be therewith...
Jul 23, 2017 | Sunday Morning
Judy and I have been married for nearly fifty years with contingency plans to go another fifty. We have known each other since junior high school, so that makes our acquaintance nearly sixty years. Our lives have melded together; we are one in many ways. We think...
Jul 22, 2017 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Four and a half centuries ago, in the Dutch city of Nijmegen (Ni-may-hen) lived Jan Block. His family had become wealthy through the linen industry, and Jan lived a life of indolence and sin. One of his friends was Symon van Maren, who had moved to Nijmegen...
Jul 16, 2017 | Sunday Evening
It is quite popular among editorial writers to say things like: “It is my opinion…” or “As I see it….” Although that writer may put it that way, it doesn’t mean that no one else sees it his way. And when large groups of people...
Jul 16, 2017 | Sunday Morning
For the last year and a half I have been pulling books out of my library and re-reading them. I suppose it started with Verduin’s “The Reformers and their Step-children,” which developed into a series of messages. The other day, I spotted a little...
Jul 13, 2017 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Prior to the establishment of religious liberty in this country, Baptists were not the only people persecuted for their faith. Several Quakers were put to death in Massachusetts and the colonies of Plymouth and Connecticut also enacted severe laws against them. But...
Jul 13, 2017 | Wednesday
This scripture is so clear and simple that I can’t justify keeping you very long. But there might be a few nuances which perhaps you haven’t considered before. And every scripture is worth considering from time to time. As you probably know I am not much of a poet. In...
Jul 10, 2017 | Sunday Evening
The psalmist David – King David – loved the Word of God. In Psalm 19 he sang: “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the...
Jul 9, 2017 | Sunday Morning
The average American is more ignorant of the Bible than he is of modern forensic science. He knows more about Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia than he does about Heaven. And he certainly knows more about Justin Bieber than he does about Jesus Christ. Our schools, our media, our...
Jul 8, 2017 | Lessons on Bible Trivia
Brother and Mrs. George Hough felt that the Lord was calling them to minister in His name in India with Adoniram Judson, but, like the Judsons, they ended up in Burma. When they began to tell their friends and relatives about the Lord’s call, some were delighted, but...
Jul 3, 2017 | Sunday Evening
It is believed by many experts that I Thessalonians is the first of Paul’s many epistles (letters). Some say that it was written less than twenty years after the crucifixion – and before the Gospels. I don’t know if these are true, but assuming they are, it opens up...
Jul 2, 2017 | Sunday Morning
I make no apologies for being a creature of habit – and a preacher of repetition. There are things which I do just about every day – for example I almost always eat the same breakfast. And I repeat myself in the course of my sermons, saying the same thing again and...
Jun 29, 2017 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Orison Allan and his wife were the first known Baptists in the territory of Michigan, settling in the wilderness where Pontiac is now located. Nine years later, on this day (July 2) in 1827, Henry Davis, a young graduate of Hamilton Theological Institute, arrived to...
Jun 29, 2017 | Wednesday
You are an intelligent grown-up. What do you do to maintain your health? Perhaps you try to eat proper foods – vegetables, fruits, a few grains and the proper proteins. And you have learned to avoid foods which are bad for you. There are the usual things of which we...
Jun 26, 2017 | Sunday Evening
A couple of weeks ago, my wife was looking for something which had somehow gotten itself lost. She looked all over the house and then went out to the car. Our car gets cleaned and vacuumed from time to time, but sometimes more thoroughly than at other times. On this...
