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Devotional

30AUG 2014

LBCF 1689 Reflections. Part Two.

Reflections on the Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. 23 Aug 14 began a perhaps unbroken, orderly, and personal journey through my favorite written confession of faith. This will be my personal reflections on this beloved written codification of the Christian faith according to a Baptist flavor.   Next-   CHAPTER 1 OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES……..[Read More]

22AUG 2014

LBCF 1689 Reflections. Part One.

Reflections on the Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. 23 Aug 14 began a perhaps unbroken, orderly, and personal journey through my favorite written confession of faith. This will be my personal reflections on this beloved written codification of the Christian faith according to a Baptist flavor. 23 Aug 14   CHAPTER 1 OF THE……..[Read More]

13AUG 2014

There are no Secrets to Growth

  Paul reminds his son Timothy, "that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus,” 2 Timothy 3:15. Salvation alone depends on the mercy of God. It is not based on one’s knowledge of the Bible. Before there was a Bible……..[Read More]

01AUG 2014

God Does Not Love Everyone in the Same Way

John 3:36 reads: “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”      We live in a day that celebrates, “The fatherly love of God.” This, to me, is nothing more than a vantage……..[Read More]

19JUL 2014

Judgment

  Satan has gained tremendous ground in the church in our day by the mantra: “Judge not.” I firmly believe this stems in most ways from the superficiality of most people in the church today. A person well trained in administrative law has no qualms, if placed in the position, about executing their duties in……..[Read More]

13JUL 2014

Why Eternal Life Is Eternal

  The fact that there are any teachers or preachers in the Christian church who actually teach that a true salvation can in any way be lost is a very sad reality. We should work to combat this great error wherever we find it. We must do so poignantly yet also with meekness, love and……..[Read More]

02APR 2021

The World We Do Not Have and Can Hardly Imagine

    1 John 3:11-12 says: “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.”   Imagine a……..[Read More]

28JUN 2014

The Surety of Grace is Christ

  “But [Jesus], after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God…For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified,” Hebrews 10:12, 14. The certainty a Christian has in grace is truly something worth singing about. It’s passages like this that at times……..[Read More]

21JUN 2014

Trials

  A dear friend once asked me: "Could God trust you with suffering?" I didn't know how to answer him then. The question always stuck with me. I hope this short message will help you answer that question. One of the greatest ways I’ve learned to identify a false preacher is not one often instantly apparent. What……..[Read More]

16JUN 2014

America

  The Nation of Israel (even its priests) was once told: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge…Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” Hosea 4:6.      That’s us too. Chapters one and two of Romans is our story. Particularly I’m……..[Read More]

07JUN 2014

Multiple Witnesses

  The first four books in the New Testament (NT) are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They're called, "gospels." The word gospel means, "Good news." They were written in the same order as they appear in your Bible. The dates of their authorship are as follows: on or prior to A.D. 50, sometime in the……..[Read More]

25MAY 2014

An Inheritance of Promise

Sorry for the delay! Afghanistan's internet isn't as good as the states. “For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise,” Galatians 3:18. Around 1450 B.C. the law was added to the promise(s) made much earlier……..[Read More]

03MAY 2014

The Eternal God

  “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God,” Psalm 90:2. This eternity is no less applicable to the Son (Ephesians 3:11) or the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 9:14) than it is to the Father! This is a triune affirmation we can make. This becomes……..[Read More]

26APR 2014

The Dead Seriousness of Joy in Christ

  I just don’t get it, but I’m working at it. By the grace of the Holy Spirit’s illumination I pray I’ll one day see the depth of the dead sobriety and paramount importance of joy in Christ. Joy is more of an overwhelming doctrine than most of us have expanded our minds to search……..[Read More]

20APR 2014

Reading with Passion

I recently listened to a number of sermons in John’s Gospel by Pastor Mark Dever while traveling here to Afghanistan. If you’ve not had the benefit of this man’s teaching I’d like to cordially invite you to Google the name and download away. As I was listening to him I noticed something lacking in my……..[Read More]

29MAR 2014

Life in Christ

  “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore,” Psalm 16:11.      David wrote this a very long time ago. He is experiencing the fullness of it right now as you read this. For the sanctifying, there is nothing in this universe……..[Read More]

02MAR 2014

Hatred

We live in a current church climate that has a certain allergy against any concept of the word hate. Perhaps a lot of it comes from a proper observation of the fact that hate is often dangerous and all-consuming. We tend to see all hatred as negative or perhaps even evil, but it’s not. What……..[Read More]

23FEB 2014

The Ebenezer

  In 1 Samuel 7:12, Samuel the prophet set up a stone and named it “Ebenezer” between Mizpah and Shen. The name means a, “Stone of help.” It was a visual reminder of God’s faithfulness to Israel. Each time those who knew what it meant passed by it they could see it and be reminded,……..[Read More]

20JAN 2014

Remembering Life

  In all that we study and meditate on regarding the life to come I think I’ve been reminded this week of something that, although difficult to imagine how, is easy to overlook or marginalize, and that’s life itself as we are currently to live it.      God has given us this world in……..[Read More]

12JAN 2014

The Sweetness of Prayer

  “Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God,” Colossians 4:12. In about AD 62, the Christians in Colosse received Paul’s letter addressed to them……..[Read More]

26DEC 2013

A Godly Parent

Parents, love your kids. This is a high calling, and may God bless you by it as you bless Him in it.      The following excerpt is from the book, “Missionary Patriarch: The True Story of John G. Paton.”      With all my heart I encourage you to go and listen to John……..[Read More]

09DEC 2013

Fellowship

  “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful,” Colossians 3:15.        Many times I’ve been asked, “Do I have to go to church to be a Christian?” The answer isn’t really as simple as “yes” or “no.” Now of……..[Read More]

27NOV 2013

A Naturally Happy Thanksgiving

In a commentary on Colossians chapter 3 from Jamieson, Fausset and Brown we read: “Of ourselves we can no more ascend than a bar of iron lift itself up from the earth. But the love of Christ is a powerful magnet to draw us up (Eph 2:5,6). The design of the Gospel is not merely……..[Read More]

18NOV 2013

Vapors All

  Psalm 39:5: “Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah”      I think it was a lot easier for men 1,000 or 5,000 years ago to understand this. Not all did of course, I’m only saying I think it was easier……..[Read More]

10NOV 2013

Pastors

  Ephesians 4:11 reads: “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers.” All of these ministerial offices have their place in the church today. The Apostles that Christ chose in His day are as much for me today in their writings as they were verbally or personally to those……..[Read More]