Walking In The Light

The people of Judah thought they were wise; but as time would prove they were fools! They thought they could worship the Lord GOD on their own terms, ignore His Law, & also commit spiritual adultery & somehow continue to experience GOD’s peace & prosperity. Only a fool, someone ignorant of GOD, would believe such lies. But that is what the nation had become – they were a nation of fools & GOD was sifting them to see if there were any wise men left.

As Christians we talk & sing a lot about grace. It’s become sort of a default cliché for professing believers to say to others in difficult situations, “GOD’s grace is sufficient,” without any real deep-seated confidence in their words. The reason is that many people sitting on church pews do not truly understand what the grace of GOD is, nor do they sincerely believe that grace alone is sufficient for whatever they face or need, & sadly they do not experience it.

The apostle Peter wrote this letter to encourage Christians who had been scattered and were suffering persecution for their faith. His intentions are to encourage the saints to keep their focus on their glorious future with Christ and also to instruct them as how they’re to live in this present evil world while awaiting their blessed hope and eternal inheritance. So, Peter urges these suffering Christians to pay very careful attention to the way they live before the unbelieving, watching world with the goal of winning them to Christ.

In the sixth and final message of the 2018 Camp Meeting at Carolina Baptist Church, Bro. Barry Spears preaches from Genesis 30:27 on Experience and gives his testimony.

In the fifth message of the 2018 Camp Meeting at Carolina Baptist Church, Bro. Barry Spears preaches from Song of Solomon 1:15 on Eyes of a Dove.

In the fourth message of the 2018 Camp Meeting at Carolina Baptist Church, Bro. Billy Sampson preaches from Acts 13:29-39 on Proof The King Had One More Move!

In the third message of the 2018 Camp Meeting at Carolina Baptist Church, Bro. Brent Carr preaches from 1 Samuel 30:1-8 on I Want My Stuff Back.

In the second message of the 2018 Camp Meeting at Carolina Baptist Church, Bro. Brent Carr preaches from John 5:1-9 on When Jesus Crashes Your Pool Party.John 5:1-95 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

In the first message of the 2018 Camp Meeting at Carolina Baptist Church, Bro. Billy Sampson preaches from Matthew 7:13-14 on Decisions that Impact Eternity.Matthew 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

In this first message of our new series, Firm In Faith, we are simply going to consider the life of Peter since he penned the two letters we’re going to study. According to GOD’s Word, it's profitable to look at the lives of men such at Peter; these Bible characters are examples for us to find out what to do & what not to do. And so, we're going to examine his beginning, his calling, the changes that took place in his life, & his message to us today. Well, as many of you know, Peter was one of the earliest followers of Jesus. To sum up Peter's life: Peter was a tiny, unstable pebble who put his trust in Christ the solid rock & taught others how to build upon that sure foundation.

In the days of Jesus, the Pharisees & Scribes had devised such a legalistic system whereby one was to know GOD & enter His kingdom that it totally disfigured the character & nature of GOD. Well, Jesus came to earth to testify of the truth that men could be liberated from false religion & come into a real relationship with GOD through Himself. In response to the Pharisees’ complaints of Jesus receiving & eating with sinners, Jesus told 3 stories which revealed that the religious leaders didn't know GOD whatsoever. In the last story, Jesus spoke of a loving father that rejoiced in his wayward son coming home. The intent was to show the people that GOD didn't reject sinners, He actually loved them & takes great pleasure in their salvation. Since Father’s Day is upon us, we’re going to look at this story once again & note some attributes of The Heavenly Father. It’s my intent as a father to model these attributes of The Heavenly Father & become a heavenly father to my kids. I pray that this is the desire of every Christian father also. What’s the profit in doing so? Well, if we’ll pattern our lives after The Heavenly Father, then our kids will be impacted & influenced like the prodigal son in the story. So, let’s discover some things that a heavenly father should demonstrate in his life & in his parenting as he follows the example of The Heavenly Father.

There’s not much preaching today on “assurance of salvation.” This is a strange phenomenon which has developed over the last several decades because the Apostles consistently addressed this subject in the 1st Century. In fact, the Apostle John devoted an entire letter to this matter. A believer’s assurance of salvation is so important that it has been taught throughout the history of the church, all through the Puritan era of the 1500’s & 1600’s, & it continued through the 1700’s with great preachers like Johnathan Edwards. Read the messages of Charles Spurgeon or George Whitfield & you’ll see this subject sprinkled throughout their writings. However, you don’t hear much teaching on the assurance of salvation today. Why is that? One Bible scholar credits the shallow preaching of our day with the disappearance of this message. I would agree!

Last words are important. Down through history, every generation has been intrigued by the last words of others. Why? Because final words seem to create a lasting memory or provide extremely wise counsel. In this last message of our series, we’re going to look at some of the last words in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible.

Once a year we observe Memorial Day, we break from our routines to remember the price of those who traded their Tomorrows for our Today. But, for the Christian, every Sunday is a celebration of the Memorial of Christ. Lest we forget the Lord’s sacrifice & triumphant resurrection, we assemble every week to honor & worship Jesus Christ. Sadly, Sundays are just another day of the weekend for many. They don’t consider it the Lord’s day, the day in which we reverence Christ. Instead, they see it is as a day to catch up on sleep, or cut the grass, a day we might go to church, a day to go out to eat, a day to visit family, a day to enjoy something recreational, or just another day.But, to the true child of GOD, on this day we pause to remember that the cost of our spiritual freedom was “the Blood of Christ.” At the cross, Jesus fought the armies of Hell to liberate us from sin’s bondage.

In the beginning of creation, everything was good & perfect (Genesis 1 & 2). But, when Adam & Eve sinned, the world fell into chaos, confusion, & corruption. Thus, all of the evil in our world is the result of sin & sinful men. But, thankfully, GOD has not abandoned His fallen creation. One day Christ is going to return to earth & establish a new world order that is characterized by peace & righteousness. After His literal 1,000-year reign on earth (Rev. 20), GOD’s dealing with humanity will reach its climax as eternity begins. Revelation chapters 21 & 22 give a description of the eternal state & provides us with a glimpse of just how our good GOD is going to permanently remedy all that has gone wrong with His creation.

Mary would experience much Joy as the mother of Christ, but in addition to that joy, Simeon prophesied that grief would also flood her heart. Now, the calling of motherhood is not an easy one, but imagine having the added stress of raising & caring for GOD’s own Son. Yet Mary demonstrated how to be a godly, effective parent, living a life in GOD’s favor & grace. From varied scenes in her life, we can see three attributes which every godly mother needs to have.

Revelation 20:11 describes a courtroom scene, it’s the trial of the ages. This frightening scripture details the dreadful day when all unbelievers will be confronted with the truth they have scoffed, denied, ignored, & dismissed. The Great White Throne Judgment is the final bar of justice in GOD’s plan for dealing with sin, once & for all. In this judgment, sinners will stand before a holy GOD to give account for their sins. Unlike our human courts, there will be no jury, only a Judge. There will be no public defender, only a Pure Prosecutor. One by one, sinners will stand alone before GOD; they are hopeless, for they denied the truth that they heard or saw – the witness of conscience, the witness of creation, &/or the witness of Christ. Every soul at this judgment will be found guilty & shall be given an eternal sentence, with no chance of appeal or parole. This is the day of judgment. A popular preacher from years past used to preach a message entitled, “Payday Someday!”Well, at this moment, GOD’s judgment is no longer someday, it is now! As we examine this text you discover that each word emphasizes the magnitude of this awesome scene of absolute justice.

There is something in the heart of every human being that longs for a world where justice & peace reign supreme, & where war & suffering cease. That, my friends, is nothing less than the divine fingerprints of GOD’s truth, written on the heart. On another note, GOD also instilled in the human heart a sense of future judgment & a universal belief that some sort of world disaster is coming. You hear it in the news reports, you read it in the titles of books being published, & you see it in the types of apocalyptic movies being produced.These two conflicting & opposing concepts, the belief in a future worldwide disaster & the desire for some type of global utopia, are at the same time stamped on the heart of every person. While it is impossible for the world to reconcile these two universal beliefs, only the Bible explains how that both are going to take place in the future. Let’s look at Revelation chapter 20 & see how exactly these two realities will unfold.

We all love weddings. We all love a wedding feast. It is an exciting event. It is indescribably wonderful, thrilling, & beautiful. Now GOD chose a wedding to describe that moment when we become one with the Lord Jesus Christ in even a fuller sense than we are one with Him now. When we become one in the deepest sense with our Lord in actuality & in reality, when we become one with our GOD for all eternity in a more intimate way than we know Him presently—GOD calls this the marriage of the Lamb. Now, when we think about that it should excite us.

These verses in Revelation chapter 19 introduce the final act of history as we now know it. It details that great event anticipated by believers in every century, & that which the Old Testament prophets wrote, & that which the New Testament writers longed for. This is the moment to which the entire book of Revelation has been looking forward. It is also the essential & predominant theme of the entire Bible. I’m speaking of none other than the glorious coming of The Lord Jesus Christ to earth in order to put down His enemies, execute justice, & set up His kingdom. The return of Christ at the end of the age will end the darkness of sin’s reign & usher in the golden age on earth when all creation shall be subject to its Creator & Redeemer. Up to this point in the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ has been directing earth’s judgments from His throne in heaven, but now He leaves heaven & descends to earth for the purpose of completing the work of judgment before He establishes His Millennial Kingdom.

Many people have asked, “If the church is Raptured out of this world before the Tribulation, how will anyone be saved?” That’s a good question; but, don’t worry, GOD has already considered this. History is His story, and GOD has and will always give the world a witness, & this period of judgment will be no different. You see, just as the Antichrist waltzes onto the world scene to promote his message of world peace, two witnesses from GOD touch down on the streets of Israel to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and warn of GOD’s judgment to come.

It is almost impossible to watch or read the news today without hearing about the escalating tension among the nations of our world & impending global conflict. Just this past Friday, the headline on a major U. K. news site read, “Is there going to be a World War 3 & who would win? From Syria tensions between USA & Russia to the North Korea nuclear threat, what are the chances?” Now, it is not just the British news agencies that are posting such headlines, this concern of another world war is surfacing in countries on every continent. I believe this universal feeling of a future doomsday is spreading because the world can easily see how international tensions & sophisticated weaponry are revealing just how fast the stability of the global community could disintegrate in one act of a nation, resulting in a calamitous conflict such as this world has never witnessed. So, where is human civilization headed? How will the world end? Is there going to be a final world war that ends this age? Well, the Bible is not silent about the future of our world & the events leading to the end of the age.

According to the Bible, an explosion of escalating global crises in the last days will precipitate the rise of an evil leader, one like history has never seen, who will eventually take control of the entire world. He will appear to be the savior of the world, but he will turn out to be its destroyer. He will make what Hitler did during WW2 & the Holocaust seem as child’s play. This man of sin is known as the Antichrist. In this sermon, we learn what the Bible says about this future diabolical leader & how this information should affect us presently.

This morning I would like to retrace the details of the death, burial, & resurrection of Jesus Christ through the eyes of Mary Magdalene. Mary was a devoted disciple of Christ after He delivered her from demonic possession & saved her.  From Jesus' ministry, to the cross, & then to the grave, Mary Magdalene stood faithfully by Jesus' side & witnessed His passion first hand. Since she was the first follower of Christ to see the Lord alive & talk with Him after He arose from death, certainly her experience is worthy of careful examination. Now, Mary did not start out the first Easter Sunday morning very well. But before the day was over, she had experienced a resurrection of hope in the Risen Savior.

Two thousand years ago, in Jerusalem, an event occurred that permanently changed the world. Because of that event, history was split. Every time you write a date, you’re using the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as the focal point of your existence. The resurrection of Jesus is foundational & absolutely crucial to the Christian faith, & yet, oftentimes, many believers only give it considerable thought around the Easter season.

All of the details of the Triumphal Entry — Jesus on a colt, the coats of people strewn on the road, the palm branches being waved & cast before the Lord, & the words from Psalm 118 used by the shouting crowds, — indicated the arrival of the Messiah into Jerusalem. This entire scene revealed that the Lord was in sovereign control of every single detail of this event, & He was making a statement to the nation. The donkey He rode prophesied of His position as King & His lowly character as a servant— He came to be a burden-bearer. The Hallel Psalm repeated on the people’s lips, “Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord,” declared His Messiahship. This was the moment that Jesus was presented publicly to Israel as her Messiah — a moment predetermined before the foundations of the world.

On this Sunday before His crucifixion, Jesus prepared to enter Jerusalem through the East Gate of the city. Since the Sabbath had ended the evening before, the streets were densely crowded once again, the noise of tourists began to fill all available space, and people were still buzzing with excitement to see if Jesus would dare come to face His enemies. A price was on His head. It would take real courage for Him to come. And yet, Jesus never waivered from His purpose. In fact, He would boldly orchestrate His Own Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem to fulfill the Scriptures & thereby intentionally set in motion the events which would culminate in His willful sacrifice of Himself on the cross. This text is one of many reminders that Jesus was no victim; He was in full control of every detail & circumstance that affected His life.

America has a unique place in history during which it emerged & continues to be a prominent feature in world affairs. For that reason, many ask “Where is America in Bible prophecy?” Because the United States has such a rich Christian heritage & is currently the most powerful nation in our world, most find it difficult to accept a prophetic scenario which doesn't include America.   So, does America have a role in the last days? Well, while there are no specific references to the United States in Bible prophecy, there are passages in Scripture which give us insight as to the possible scenarios for America.

2,600 years ago, the prophet of GOD named Ezekiel was given a list of names which identify an alliance of nations that will surface in the last days. This coalition is bent on one thing – the destruction of Israel. According to our text, these nations will assemble & march towards Palestine to wipe Israel out. Many prophecy scholars believe that this attack on Israel will occur somewhere near the beginning of the Tribulation Period. I’ll say more about that later. Now, don’t confuse this conflict with the Battle of Armageddon or the rebellion at the end of the Millennial Kingdom in Revelation chapter 20. What I want you to be aware of is the fact that our generation is watching the formation of this end time alliance.

The central point of all of the Scriptures is the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ to establish His kingdom on earth. Let me put this into perspective. The new birth is vitally important & yet it is only mentioned 9 times in the N. T.; baptism is very important & it is mentioned 20 times in the N. T.; repentance is essentially important & is mentioned 70 times in the N.T.; but, the Second Coming of our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ, is mentioned at least 380 times in the New Testament. One out every 25 verses in the entire Bible speak of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Friends, if we’re to be Biblically minded then we must stay focused on The Lord’s Return & understand that everything in history is setting the stage for Christ’s coming kingdom. Jesus is coming back & I believe it is closer than we realize.