Jan 19, 2017 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Hezekiah Smith was born in 1737 at Long Island, N.Y. Under the ministry of John Gano, he was born again, and following Gano’s example, he moved to Hopewell, N.J. in order to attend the Baptist Academy. After some time there he moved a few miles down the road to attend...
Jan 19, 2017 | Wednesday
How large were the churches in the New Testament? What were their attendance & membership numbers? The church in Philippi had started with a Jewish lady’s prayer meeting, but then God began to bless. Through persecution the church became well-known in town. By the...
Jan 16, 2017 | Timothy Parrow
Dear Pastor and Brethren: Our Last Report for the Year 2016 The year 2016 is about to close. After looking at our December 2015 report, I see that the Lord has given us two visitors that come to our services consistently. Comparing the 2015 report with the report I’m...
Jan 16, 2017 | Sunday Evening
I don’t hold the Day of Pentecost with the same reverence that most of our Protestant neighbors do. Acts 2 was not the day that the church of Christ originated. Neither was the baptism of the Holy Spirit which we see in the first verses the way the disciples became a...
Jan 15, 2017 | Sunday Morning
As a diamond is to a cubic zirconium, so is the Bible to all other books. While one is the genuine article, and the others may be helpful, they are not of the same value. A knowledge of the Bible means an acquaintance with the God of eternity. HOWEVER – a mere...
Jan 12, 2017 | This Sunday in Baptist History
It was on this day in 1549 that Elizabeth was arrested as an Anabaptist. We don’t know her last name, but we do have records of the details of her trial before a council of Roman Catholics. Council: What do you think of the Mass? Elizabeth: I do not approve of your...
Jan 12, 2017 | Wednesday
Solomon has spent six chapters describing life in some of its darkest shades. “There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among man.” Actually there are lots of evils under the sun, which the news throws into our faces night after...
Jan 8, 2017 | Sunday Morning
Stephen had been a relatively recent addition to the disciples of Christ and member at Jerusalem. By that I mean we don’t read of him in any of the Gospels, so he had not risen to prominence among the apostles while Jesus ministered among them. He was apparently not...
Jan 6, 2017 | This Sunday in Baptist History
James Carroll was born into poverty on this day in 1852, while his parents were living in Arkansas, having moved there from North Carolina, via a stay in Mississippi. Almost all the wealth of the Carrolls was incorporated in the slaves which they owned, but with the...
Jan 5, 2017 | Wednesday
If we, as Baptists, had a symbol, what do you think it ought to be? I suppose one of the symbols of Catholicism might be the crucifix. Taking the image of Christ off the crucifix, would we want the cross to be our symbol? It is so highly abused today, that frankly,...
Jan 2, 2017 | Sunday Evening
Do you read much in the way of biography? My personal reading is very eclectic. I read spiritual and devotional books, and mysteries, histories and biographies. I am currently reading about the University of Washington rowing crew in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The...
Jan 1, 2017 | Sunday Morning
There are many similarities between the saints at the dawn of 2017 and saints at the dawn of Christianity. But I don’t know if the idea of the “New Year” is shared between them. Ancient cultures did celebrate various solar time-markers, but if they did, I...
Dec 29, 2016 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Daniel Marshall arrived in the Colony of Georgia on this day in 1771. He was originally from New England, but he had been serving the Lord with Shubal Stearns in North Carolina for a while before feeling led of the Lord to move south. Stearns and Marshall were...
Dec 29, 2016 | Wednesday
This verse came to my mind yesterday, as I was out blowing and shoveling the snow. To be honest, I misquoted it – I said to myself, “Hast thou considered the beauty of the snow?” That thought morphed into what might become a devotional message for tonight....
Dec 28, 2016 | Timothy Parrow
Dear Pastor and Brethren: Rejoice with Us! On November 3rd, I was able to return to the pulpit to begin anew our Thursday evening Bible study. You will remember that on January 29, 2015, I had my second heart attack, this time suffering severe damage to the left...
Dec 26, 2016 | Sunday Evening
Among the things Bible students must remember is that the books of the Bible are not chronological. Nor do the chapters in those books necessarily follow a logical sequence of time or even of order. The Bible may not be as mixed up as alphabet soup or scrambled eggs,...
Dec 25, 2016 | Sunday Morning
I think I’ve showed you this book before. It is entitled “Encyclopedia of God’s” with the subtitle: “Over 2,500 deities of the world.” Listen to the bios of some of these demonic deities: Chors, Chos-Skyon; Chu Jung. I mention this book, and...
Dec 22, 2016 | This Sunday in Baptist History
William Ashmore was born on this day in 1821. After the Lord redeemed him, he graduated from the Covington Theological Institution in Kentucky, and in 1848 he was ordained by the Baptist Church in Hamilton, Ohio. Two years later, he and his wife sailed for Hong Kong,...
Dec 22, 2016 | Wednesday
An old businessman was asked about the key to his success: He said, “I discovered at early age that most of the difference between average people and people at the top can be explained in three words. The top people did what was expected of them – and then...
Dec 18, 2016 | Sunday Evening
Our Lord’s conversation in this text involves the subject of tradition. And this conversation is appropriate for our consideration, because if there is any season of the year more filled with tradition than the one in which we find ourselves, I’m not aware of it....
Dec 18, 2016 | Sunday Morning
My recreational reading lately has included material on the history of Baptists in Kentucky. Included in these books have been dozens of short biographies of the earliest missionaries to the area. Despite the fact that God used them for His glory, many were as...
Dec 16, 2016 | This Sunday in Baptist History
John Courtney was born in 1744. His family was Virginian and Episcopalian, but through a Separate Baptist preacher the Lord saved him, and in time called him into the ministry, after which he became the first pastor of the Rehoboth Baptist Church in King William...
Dec 15, 2016 | Wednesday
There is a great deal about which I marvel when I look at the Lord Jesus. There are things for which I have no explanation, because of their complexity. He is God. On the other hand, there are things about which I am confused because of their simplicity. For example,...
Dec 12, 2016 | Sunday Evening
Among other things, John 4 is one of the great missionary texts in the Bible. You could say that Judea and Galilee had already received the gospel. They had missionaries and visiting preachers – they had been evangelized. They had a traveling church and even had the...
Dec 11, 2016 | Sunday Morning
It is downtown Manhattan – the streets of New York City, or perhaps San Francisco, or Los Angeles. Here comes a man with an unkempt beard, long scraggly hair, army surplus boots & old ragged clothes. But there is a fire in his eyes which could be from passion – or...
Dec 8, 2016 | This Sunday in Baptist History
The Jeffersonton Baptist Church began its life on this day in 1773. It is the second oldest Baptist church in Culpepper County, Virginia. The first members were members of the Carter’s Run Baptist Church, but they lived too far from the meeting house and...
Dec 8, 2016 | Wednesday
Paul loved the church in Philippi. He seemed to be closer to this group people than to most other churches. We can see his affection beginning in the first chapter and extending throughout. “I thank by God upon every remembrance of you.” “I have you...
Dec 5, 2016 | Sunday Evening
I don’t know how closely you listen to current religious thought, but there has been an interesting theme echoing around Christendom. It began before the elections last month, but it has picked up steam since then. There are preachers comparing our President-elect...
Dec 4, 2016 | Sunday Morning
There are many ways to contrast the things of God and things of the world. Their USEFULNESS and their vanity might be one means. For example, the things of the world are useable only in this universe – sometimes only immediately. Perhaps that could be a part in our...
Dec 1, 2016 | This Sunday in Baptist History
Nathaniel Chambles was born on this day in 1762. The place was Sussex, Virginia. His parents were godly Baptists, but Nathaniel was not converted until sometime during his 26th year. He was baptized and received into the High Hills Baptist Church. Nearly twenty years...
