To go somewhere, you need the right directions. This is especially true in a place like New York City, a tangled sprawl of highways and exits, roads and intersections, bridges and ferries, subway lines and trains, buses, taxis, Lyfts, and Ubers in every direction. Without the right directions or a functioning GPS, you will easily…
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open…
The world is a dangerous place, especially for a Christian. Recall the battles, enemies, and temptations that Pilgrim faced in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress as he made his way to the Celestial City. In our last issue we considered some of the dangers as we noted that the fearless Apostle Paul asked prayer for protection,…
Making musical choices — how do you decide what’s right and what’s wrong? The subject is full of controversy. Everyone, it seems, has an opinion, and yours is wrong because you disagree with me. (At least, that’s what I’m told.) There is a lot of confusion on the issue, to be sure. I wrote something…
Our church lost two long time members this week. We gained two more widows. Heaven became just a bit more real. Byron and Flo had been married for 64 years. Almost every time I talked to Byron, he reminded me of it. They were little lovebirds. The nurses in the hospital said it would be…
Have you ever been shipwrecked? Probably not. Have you ever been robbed? Maybe. Have you ever been stoned for your faith in Christ? Not likely. But besides some of these dangerous experiences, Paul could truthfully and almost matter-of-factly say that he had been “in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine…
In 2010, I attended a funeral at Victory Baptist Church in the rural town of Whiteville, NC. I did not know then that in December of 2013, I would become the pastor of this small church and begin praying that God would bring new life to this congregation. But before that could happen, God needed…
Children must be discipled with care and devotion. A child is no less a citizen of God’s kingdom than their parents; they are not second-tier after thoughts to God like so many of our ministries seem to reflect. On the contrary, children seem to be some of the most esteemed members of God’s family. Christ…
We’ve been working on a series about pastors and depression. We’ve discussed how the people of the church can come to the aid of their pastors. In this post, we offer a few conclusions. Christ, the head of the church, rules His church through the written Word and through spirit-called and spirit-led men. That’s a…
“Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” A few years ago our church, for the third time since I have been a pastor, undertook a major building program. We finished a short time ago. If you count the purchase of the property on which we now meet, it has…