Nov 9, 2023 | Wednesday
As James concludes his epistle, he exhorts us to “pray for one another.” Coming in chapter 5 instead of chapter 1, should we conclude that this is some sort of afterthought? Is this: “Oh, by the way I think it would be good if you prayed for one another?” As taught by...
Oct 26, 2023 | Wednesday
Let’s pretend you wake up one spring morning, feeling a slight itch on your right forearm. Looking down you see a small spot and think that while working in the garden the day before, you got poked by a raspberry or rose bush, or maybe it is a bug bite. Six months...
Oct 19, 2023 | Wednesday
I was talking to our missionary Tim Parrow the other day when he mentioned that one of their church people hasn’t been in the services for several weeks – it may have been as many as six weeks. There hasn’t been any problem with the church. It appears that the...
Oct 12, 2023 | Wednesday
I need to remind myself from time to time that our primary Wednesday night purpose is prayer and worship. And then there is the fact that some of us have come from work; we are tired and perhaps a little tried. Of course, there are always things we need to hear again,...
Oct 5, 2023 | Wednesday
Every time I have read this Psalm over the last three weeks, I have seen new things. We must never think that we have intellectually conquered any portion of the infinite Word of God. Perhaps one of our occupations in Heaven will be mastering new material from the...
Sep 28, 2023 | Wednesday
John Bunyan, the Baptist preacher, wrote more than one book – several of which became immensely popular. His 1666 autobiography, “Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners,” is well worth reading. He also wrote more than one extended allegory, including “The Holy War.”...
Sep 21, 2023 | Wednesday
It has been said that Baptists don’t, or didn’t, believe in an educated ministry. While there have been a small minority bearing the Baptist name who believed that ministers should rely on the Holy Spirit alone, to the exclusion of teachers and reference books, and...
Sep 21, 2023 | Wednesday
Most of you know my inclination to comment, from time to time, on the hymns that we sing. Sometimes there is a bit of criticism; sometimes I simple raise a question; sometimes it is to highlight something that I think is good. I rarely interrupt our singing to make...
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 | 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...
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 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 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 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...
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...
