A Romanian gentleman gave his personal testimony for membership in our church a week ago. His name is Pavel. His personal testimony was touching to our congregation. I wanted to share it with you. My life before I came to Christ. By the grace of God, I was born into a Baptist family in Romania…
War and Grace: Short Biographies of the World Wars (Click for Amazon link) 2005: EP Books by Don Stephens War and Grace is a light devotional book with brief biographies of thirteen individuals who either served as Christians through the World Wars or came to Christ directly or indirectly following the profound influence of the…
Ecclesiastes 3.1-15 My grandfather’s workbench, in the cellar of his house, was a mess – at least from my childish perspective. As a kid looking up at the jumbled assortment of tools, aerosol cans, plastic jars, wood scraps, and spare parts scattered across that corner of the basement, I wondered to myself, “How can grandpa…
Church planting seems pretty simple. Just evangelize and find a place to meet. Right? Actually, there is an important element still missing from this equation. A key component of a successful church plant is the training and appointing of leaders who can shepherd the church and carry out the Great Commission when the church planter…
The Necessary Implications of 2 Timothy 3:16 The Scriptures Are Free From All Error in the Autographs Whatever God immediately creates must of necessity be without error factually, theologically, morally, historically, and scientifically. The infinite perfections of God’s very being demand inerrancy and infallibility. God will not lie (1 Sam 15:20), cannot lie (Titus 1:2;…
I was watching a man on Youtube the other day telling his very interesting life story. He interjected that he had a new girlfriend, that she was a Christian, and that it was important to him that they shared the same faith. It shocked me because he had openly spoken about being sexually active in…
What kind of relationship to you have with God? Would you describe it as “personal and involved”? Would you describe it as “intellectual but distant”? How about “casual acquaintance”? There could be many other descriptors. Everyone has some kind of relationship with God; but not everyone has a good relationship with God. In a recent…
He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is FULL of the goodness of the LORD (Psalm 33:5). The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork (Psalm 19:1). I recognize fully that immorality, violence, pain, tragedy, deception, ugliness, and all kinds of evil fill our world. Yet, as you open your…
Some 30 years ago, a missionary friend of mine was talking to another missionary. The other missionary believed that the only valid missionaries were church planters. So my friend asked him who pastors the national churches that are planted. He answered, “Nationals.” Then my friend asked where these nationals are trained. He answered, “Bible institutes.”…
The Content of 2 Timothy 3:16 In 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul establishes the Scriptures’ own claim to divine authority and relevance to sound belief and behavior. Paul warns Timothy not to be deceived by false teachers and impostors, but instead to continue in what he has learned, having been fully “convinced” of Scripture’s truthfulness and…