Podcasts about baptist churches

Guest speaker, Sam Taylor, talks about the higher love that we have through Jesus Christ. Sam served as pastor for more than 20 years. Before coming to New England in 2007, he led a team of IMB missionaries helping to plant multiple churches in Eastern Europe. He now serves as the Global Missions Mobilizer for the Baptist Churches of New England (BCNE). Island Pond Baptist Church is an SBC church in Hampstead, NH, just seconds from Derry, NH. We also The post 2 Peter 1:5-8 – A Higher Love appeared first on Island Pond Baptist Church.

This week, Dr. Terry Dorsett, Executive Director of the Baptist Churches of New England, joins the Church in Action Program. Dr. Dorsett has been serving in ministry throughout New England since 1994 and has much to add regarding church revitalization. In this conversation, he discusses the difference between church planting and revitalization and how existing churches can refocus and reshape how they bring the gospel to the community.

We're joined by Edwin Ewart, serving President of Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, who brings a message from the prologue in John's Gospel. In these verses we see Jesus Christ being held up as the 'Light of the World'.You can watch this message via: https://youtu.be/AceNNVBhKHk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Best of Particular Pilgrims" Women in Particular Baptist Churches Pt.2 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cbtseminary/support

"Best of Particular Pilgrims" Women in Particular Baptist Churches Pt.2

Guest speaker Dr. Terry Dorsett from the Baptist Churches of New England shares from Philippians 1:3-6 on staying focused on Jesus until the work is done. Island Pond Baptist Church is an SBC church in Hampstead, NH, just seconds from Derry, NH. We also have many people at our church from surrounding cities such as Chester, Sandown, Danville, Kingston, Fremont, Plaistow, Atkinson, Derry, Londonderry, Salem, and Haverhill. If you live in Southern New Hampshire, we would love for you to The post Philippians 1:3-6 – Until the Work is Done appeared first on Island Pond Baptist Church.

"Best of Particular Pilgrims" Women in Particular Baptist Churches Pt.1 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cbtseminary/support

"Best of Particular Pilgrims" Women in Particular Baptist Churches Pt.1

In this episode, learn about the Association of Baptist Churches in Israel, the region's largest network of evangelical churches. Rani Saba, the Executive Director, shares about the rich history, unique challenges, and impactful ministries of these churches nestled in the heart of biblical landscapes. Discover how they navigate the complexities of its geographical and cultural context to foster spiritual growth and community resilience. Learn about their unwavering faith, perseverance, and the transformative impact of their ministries in a region steeped in profound historical and spiritual significance.

[Slide 1] Turn in your bible to I Corinthians chapter 15. In a moment we will read from the King James Version starting in verse 12. You can follow along in the pew bible starting on page 1297 or in whatever version you prefer. Today, I'll preach a sermon originally delivered by the Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. [Slide 2] Who is Charles Spurgeon? Born: June 19, 1834 It was clear from an early age that he was a prodigy. But In spite of his boyhood preaching and reading of theology books, his true conversion did not come until he was 15 years old. Although raised in a congregationalist church that baptized infants, he never believed the scriptures taught this and became a Credobaptist. In 1852 at the age of 17 he became the main preacher of the Baptist Church of Waterbeach. It grew from 40 congregants to 400 in the two years he preached there. In 1854 at the age of 19 he was called to take the pastorate of New Park Street Chapel of Southwark (Sutherk). This was a rather prestigious church which was formerly pastored by Benjamin Keach and John Gill. If those names mean nothing to you… you should go check them out. The church desired to give him the title of reverend which he rejected because he did not find any such title in the scriptures. Aside from his preaching Spurgeon had a magazine called the Sword and the Trowel. In these publications he spoke outwardly and boldly concerning the state of Christendom of his time. He used this venue to criticize the East India Trade Company's treatment of the Indian people, as well as the US Southerners for their acceptance of slavery. He called them kidnappers and even had a former slave speak in his church. In 1856 he established his “Pastor's College” where he endeavored to train Pastors. He did not run the college himself, but did frequently teach the students. Those lectures have been compiled into a book called “Lectures to My Students” which can still be purchased and read today. Spurgeon also opened several orphanages in London to care for street children. By 1861 the church had grown so much they needed to build a new building to accommodate 5000 attenders. The church was renamed the Metropolitan Tabernacle, which still exists today. Because of all of this, he was often ill. He would spend many winters in France to recover strength. One final contributing factor to his poor health came in 1859 when Charles Darwin published his Origin of Species. Although not directly eliminating God from creation, it paved the way for textual criticism and liberalism to emerge within the church. From 1859 on, churches and pastors began questioning the miracles of the scriptures, taking a more allegorical approach to the creation account, and questioning key doctrines such as the sinfulness of man, the truth of the resurrection, the inspiration of the bible, and the substitutionary atonement of Christ's death on the cross. All of this came to a head in 1887 in something called the Downgrade controversy. Spurgeon and his church were part of a collection of Baptist Churches called the Baptist Union. Although the Union was quite broad in their doctrine, Spurgeon began to criticize openly the inclusion of churches within the Union that were espousing the aforementioned liberal teachings. In 1887, Spurgeon published several articles in his Sword and the Trowel magazine arguing for the establishment of the traditional doctrines of plenary inspiration, the truth of the resurrection, the reality of hell and that many men will be punished there forever, and the substitutionary atonement of Christ as necessary doctrines that must be confessed to be a member of the Baptist Union. By the end of 1887, when it became apparent that the Baptist Union had no intention of adopting these doctrinal standards, Spurgeon removed himself and his church from membership. Since Spurgeon's church was easily the largest and most prestigious, this angered the other members of the Baptist Union. In 1888 the Union met and officially censured Spurgeon. They later met and took a vote on whether to adopt Spurgeon's doctrinal standards and the result was 2000 to 7. 2000 churches of the Baptist Union decided not to include these points in their official statement of faith. Four years later, at the age of 57, Spurgeon after suffering a great bout of gout and congestion of the kidneys, passed on into glory. He is still remembered today as the Prince of Preachers. He preached over 2000 sermons and many of them are still in print today. The sermon you will hear today is one which will make even more sense to you now that you know a little about him and the time in which he lived and the wars he was fighting for truth in England. He preached this sermon less than 2 years before he died, hot off the heels of the downgrade controversy. [Slide 3] We will read the text of the sermon today, I will pray, and from that point forward my words will be exclusively from Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He ends his sermon with an amen. At that point I will say, “He is risen!” To which you will reply, He is risen indeed. Then we will be dismissed. So please stand with me to give honor to and focus on the reading of the Word of God. I Corinthians 15 starting in verse 12. “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. — 1 Corinthians xv. 12— 19. [Slide 4] OUR religion is not based upon opinions, but upon facts. We hear persons sometimes saying, “Those are your views, and these are ours.” Whatever your “views” may be, is a small matter; what are the facts of the case? We must, after all, if we want a firm foundation, come down to matters of fact. Now, the great facts of the gospel are that God was incarnate in Christ Jesus, that he lived here a life of holiness and love, that he died upon the cross for our sins, that he was buried in the tomb of Joseph, that the third day he rose again from the dead, that after a while he ascended to his Father's throne where he now sitteth, and that he shall come by-and-by, to be our Judge, and in that day the dead in Christ shall rise by virtue of their union with him. Now, very soon, within the Church of God, there rose up persons who began to dispute about the fundamental and cardinal principles of the faith, and it is so even now. When those outside the Church deny that Christ is the Son of God, deny his atoning sacrifice, and deny his resurrection, we are not at all astonished; they are unbelievers, and they are acting out their own profession. But when men, inside the Church of God, call themselves Christians, and yet deny the resurrection of the dead, then is our soul stirred within us, for it is a most solemn and serious evil to doubt those holy truths. They know not what they do, they cannot see all the result of their unbelief; if they could, one would think that they would start back with horror, and replace the truth, and let it stand where it ought to stand, where God has put it. The resurrection of the dead has been assailed, and is assailed still, by those who are called Christians, even by those who are called Christian ministers, but who, nevertheless, spirit away the very idea of the resurrection of the dead, so that we are to-day in the same condition, to some extent, as the Corinthian church was when, in its very midst, there rose up men, professing to be followers of Christ, who said that there was no resurrection of the dead. The apostle Paul, having borne his witness, and recapitulated the testimony about the resurrection of Christ, goes on to show the horrible consequences which must follow if there be no resurrection of the dead, and if Christ be not risen. He showed this to be a foundation truth; and if it was taken away, much more was gone than they supposed; indeed, everything was gone, as Paul went on to prove. Beloved friends, let us never tamper with the truth of God. I find it as much as I can do to enjoy the comfort of the truth, and to learn the spiritual lessons of God's Word, without setting up to be a critic upon it; and I find it immeasurably more profitable to my own soul believingly to adore, than unbelievingly to invent objections, or even industriously to try to meet them. The meeting of objections is an endless work. When you have killed one regiment of them, there is another regiment coming on; and when you have put to the sword whole legions of doubts, doubters still swarm upon you like the frogs of Egypt. It is a poor business, it answers no practical end; it is better far firmly to believe what you profess to believe, and to follow out to all the blessed consequences every one of the truths which, in your own heart and soul, you have received of the Lord. One of the truths most surely believed among us is that there will be a resurrection of all those who sleep in Christ. There will be a resurrection of the ungodly as well as of the godly. Our Lord Jesus said to the Jews, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” Paul declared before Felix the doctrine of the “resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust;” but his argument with the Corinthians specially referred to believers, who will rise from the dead, and stand with Christ in the day of his appearing, quickened with the life that quickened him, and raised up to share the glory which the Father has given to him. [Slide 5] I. Paul's argument begins here, and this will be our first head, IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION, CHRIST IS NOT RISEN. If the resurrection of the dead is impossible, Christ cannot have risen from the dead. Now, the apostles bore witness that Christ had risen. They had met him, they had been with him, they had seen him eat a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb on one occasion. They had seen him perform acts which could not be performed by a spirit, but which needed that he should be flesh and bones. Indeed, he said, “A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” One of them put his finger into the print of the nails, and was invited to thrust his hand into Christ's side. He was known by two of them in the breaking of bread, a familiar token by which they recognized him better than by anything else. They heard him speak, they knew the tones of his voice; they were not deceived. On one occasion, five hundred of them saw him at once; or, if there was any possibility of a mistake when they were all together, they were not deceived when they saw him one by one, and entered into very close personal communion with him, each one after a different sort. “Now,” says Paul, “if there be no resurrection of the dead, if that is impossible, then, of course, Christ did not rise; and yet we all assure you that we saw him, and that we were with him, and you have to believe that we are all liars, and that the Christian religion is a lie, or else you must believe that there is a resurrection of the dead.” [Slide 6] “But,” says one, “Christ might rise, and yet not his people.” Not so, according to our faith and firm belief, Christ is one with his people. When Adam sinned, the whole human race fell in him, for they were one with him; in Adam all died. Even those that have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression have, nevertheless, died. Even upon infants the death-sentence has taken effect, because they were one with Adam. There is no separating Adam from his posterity. Now, Christ is the second Adam, and he has a posterity. All believers are one with him, and none can separate them from him. If they do not live, then he did not live; and if he did not rise, then they will not rise. But whatever happened unto him must also happen unto them. They are so welded together, the Head and the members, that there is no dividing them. If he had slept an eternal sleep, then every righteous soul would have done the same, too. If he rose again, they must rise again, for he has taken them unto himself to be part and parcel of his very being. He died that they might live. Because he lives they shall live also, and in his eternal life they must for ever be partakers. This is Paul's first argument, then, for the resurrection of the righteous, that, inasmuch as Christ rose, they must rise, for they are identified with him. [Slide 7] II. But now he proceeds with his subject, not so much arguing upon the resurrection of others as upon the resurrection of Christ; and his next argument is, that, IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION, APOSTOLIC PREACHING FALLS: “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain” (see the fourteenth verse). “Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.” If Christ was not raised, the apostles were false witnesses. When a man bears false witness, he usually has a motive for doing so. What motive had these men, what did they gain by bearing false witness to Christ's resurrection? It was all loss and no profit to them if he had not risen. They declared in Jerusalem that he had risen from the dead, and straightway men began to haul them to prison, and to put them to death. Those of them who survived bore the same testimony. They were so full of the conviction of it, that they went into distant countries to tell the story of Jesus and his resurrection from the dead. Some went to Rome, some to Spain; probably some came even to this remote island of Britain. Wherever they went, they testified that Christ had risen from the dead, and that they had seen him alive, and that he was the Saviour of all who trusted in him. Thus they always preached, and what became of them? I may say, with Paul, that “they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented.” They were brought before the Roman Emperor again and again, and before the pro-consuls, and threatened with the most painful of deaths; but not one of them ever withdrew his testimony concerning Christ's resurrection. They still stood to it, that they had known him in life, many of them had been near him in death, and they had all communed with him after his resurrection. They declared that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, that he died and was buried, that he rose again, and that there was salvation for all who believed in him. Were these men false witnesses? If so, they were the most extraordinary false witnesses who ever lived. What were their morals? What kind of men were they? Were they drunkards? Were they adulterers? Were they thieves? Nay; they were the purest and best of mankind; their adversaries could bring no charge against their moral conduct. They were eminently honest, and they spoke with the accent of conviction. As I have already said, they suffered for their testimony. Now, under the law, the witness of two men was to be received; but what shall we say of the witness of five hundred men? If it was true when they first declared that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, it is equally true now. It does not matter though the event happened nearly nineteen hundred years ago; it is just as true now. The apostles bore witness which could not be gainsaid, and so it still stands. We cannot assume that all these apostolic men were false witnesses of God. If we even suppose that they were mistaken about this matter, we must suspect their witness about everything else; and the only logical result is to give up the New Testament altogether. If they were mistaken as to Christ having risen from the dead, they are not credible witnesses upon anything else; and if they are discredited, the whole of our religion falls with them; the Christian faith, and especially all that the apostles built on the resurrection, must be turned out of doors as altogether a delusion. They taught that Christ's rising from the dead was the evidence that his sacrifice was accepted, that he rose again for our justification, that his rising again was the hope of believers in this life, and the assurance of the resurrection of their bodies in the life to come. You must give up all your hope of salvation the moment you doubt the Lord's rising from the dead. As for Paul, who puts himself with the rest of the apostles, and says, “If Christ be not risen, we are found false witnesses of God,” I venture to bring him forward as a solitary witness of the most convincing kind. I need not remind you how he was at first opposed to Christ. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, one of the most intolerant members of the sect that hated the very name of Christ. He had a righteousness that surpassed that of the men of his times. He was a religious leader and persecutor; and yet he was so convinced of the appearance of Christ to him on the way to Damascus, that from that time he was completely turned round, and he preached with burning zeal the faith which once he blasphemed. There is an honesty about Paul which convinces at once; and if he had not seen the Saviour risen from the dead, he would not have been the man to say that he did. Dear brethren, you may rest assured that Jesus Christ did rise from the dead. [Slide 8] You cannot put down these good men as impostors; you cannot reckon the apostle Paul among those readily deceived, or among the deceivers of others; so you may be sure that Jesus Christ did rise from the dead, according to the Scriptures. [Slide 9] III. Once more, Paul's argument is that, IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION, FAITH BECOMES DELUSION. As we have to give up the apostles and all their teaching, if Christ did not rise from the dead, so we must conclude that their hearers believed a lie: “your faith is also vain.” Beloved, I speak to you who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and who are resting in him with great comfort and peace of mind, yea, who have experienced a great change of heart, and a great change in your lives through faith in Christ. Now, if he did not rise from the dead, you are believing a lie. Take this home to yourselves: if he did not literally rise from the dead on the third day, this faith of yours, that gives you comfort, this faith which has renewed you in heart and life, this faith which you believe is leading you home to heaven, must be abandoned as a sheer delusion; your faith is fixed on a falsehood. Oh, dreadful inference! But the inference is clearly true if Christ is not risen; you are risking your soul on a falsehood if Christ did not rise from the dead. [Slide 10] This is a solemn statement. I said last Sabbath, and I repeat it,— “Upon a life I did not live, Upon a death I did not die, I risk my whole eternity.” It is so. If Jesus Christ did not die for me, and did not rise again for me, I am lost; I have not a ray of comfort from any other direction; I have no dependence on anything else but Jesus crucified and risen; and if that sheet-anchor fails, everything fails with it, in my case; and so it must in yours. “Your faith is also vain,” wrote Paul to the Corinthians, for, if Christ is not risen, the trial will be too great for faith to endure, since it has for the very keystone of the arch the resurrection of Christ from the dead. If he did not rise, your faith rests on what never happened, and is not true; and certainly your faith will not bear that, or any other trial. There comes to the believer, every now and then, a time of great testing. Did you ever lie, as I have done several times, upon the brink of eternity, full of pain, almost over the border of this world, fronting eternity, looking into the dread abyss? There, unless you are sure about the foundation of your faith, you are in an evil case indeed. Unless you have a solid rock beneath you then, your hope will shrink away to nothing, and your confidence will depart. When you are sure that “the Lord is risen, indeed,” then you feel that there is something beneath your foot that does not stir. If Jesus died for you, and Jesus rose for you, then, my dear brother, you are not afraid even of that tremendous day when the earth shall be burned up, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. You feel a confidence that will bear even that test. If Christ did not rise from the dead, and you are resting your soul on the belief that he did rise, what a failure it will be for you in another world, what disappointment when you do not wake up in his likeness, what dismay if there should be no pardon of sin, no salvation through the precious blood! If Christ is not risen, your faith is vain. If it is vain, give it up; do not hold on to a thing that is not true. I would sooner plunge into the water, and swim or wade through the river, than I would trust myself to a rotten bridge that would break down in the middle. [Slide 11] If Christ did not rise, do not trust him, for such faith is vain; but, if you believe that he did die for you, and did rise again for you, then believe in him, joyously confident that such a fact as this affords a solid basis for your belief. [Slide 12] IV. Now I am going to advance a little further. Paul says next that, IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION, THEY REMAINED IN THEIR SINS: “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” Ah! can ye bear that thought, my beloved in Christ, that ye are yet in your sins? I think that the bare suggestion takes hold upon you, terrifies you, and chills your blood. A little while ago, you were in your sins, dead in them, covered with them as with a crimson robe, you were condemned, lost. But now, you believe that Christ has brought you out of your sins, and washed you and made you white in his precious blood; ay, and has so changed you that sin shall not have dominion over you, for now you are by grace a child of God. Well, but, if Christ did not rise again, you are yet in your sins. [Slide 13] Observe that; for then there is no atonement made; at least, no satisfactory atonement. If the atonement of Christ for sin had been unsatisfactory, he would have remained in the grave. He went there on our behalf, a hostage for us; and if what he did upon the tree had not satisfied the justice of God, then he would never have come out of the grave again. Think for a minute what our position would be, if I stood here to preach only a dead and buried Christ! He died nearly nineteen hundred years ago; but suppose he had never been heard of since. If he had not risen from the dead, could you have confidence in him? You would say, “How do we know that his sacrifice was accepted?” We sing right truly,— “If Jesus ne'er had paid the debt, He ne'er had been at freedom set.” The Surety would have been under bonds unless he had discharged all his liability; but he has done so, and he has risen from the dead,— “And now both the Surety and sinner are free.” Understand clearly what I am saying. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took upon himself the sum total of the guilt of all his people. “The Lord hath made to meet upon him the iniquity of us all.” He died, and by his death obtained the full discharge of all our obligations. But his rising again was, so to speak, the receipt in full, the token that he had discharged the whole of the dread liabilities which he had taken upon himself; and now, since Christ is risen, you who believe in him are not in your sins. But, if he had not risen, then it would have been true, “Ye are yet in your sins.” [Slide 14] It would have been true, also, in another sense. The life by which true believers live is the resurrection-life of him who said, “Because I live, ye shall live also.” But if Christ is not risen, there is no life for those who are in him. If he were still slumbering in the grave, where would have been the life that now makes us joyful, and makes us aspire after heavenly things? There would have been no life for you if there had not first been life for him. “Now is Christ risen from the dead,” and in him you rise into newness of life; but, if he did not rise, you are still dead, still under sin, still without the divine life, still without the life immortal and eternal that is to be your life in heaven throughout eternity. So, you see, once more, the consequences that follow: “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” [Slide 15] V. Now follows, if possible, a still more terrible consequence. IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION, ALL THE PIOUS DEAD HAVE PERISHED: “Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” “Perished”, by which is not meant “annihilated”; they are in a worse condition than that. [Slide 16] One phrase must be explained by the other which went before it; if Jesus Christ is not risen, they are yet in their sins. They died, and they told us that they were blood-washed and forgiven; and that they hoped to see the face of God with joy; but if Christ rose not from the dead, there is no sinner who has gone to heaven, there is no saint who ever died, who has had any real hope; he has died under a delusion, and he has perished. If Jesus Christ be not raised, the godly dead are yet in their sins, and they can never rise; for, if Christ did not rise from the dead, they cannot rise from the dead. Only through his resurrection is there resurrection for the saints. The ungodly shall rise to shame and everlasting contempt; but believers shall rise into eternal life and felicity because of their oneness with Christ; but, if he did not rise, they cannot rise. If he is dead, they must be dead, for they must share with him. They are, they ever must be, one with him; and all the saints who ever died, died under a mistake if Christ did not rise. We cast away the thought with abhorrence. Many of us have had beloved parents and friends who have died in the Lord, and we know that the full assurance of their faith was no mistake. We have seen dear children die in sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection; and we know that it was no error on their part. I have stood by many death-beds of believers, many triumphant, and many more peaceful and calm as a sweet summer evening. They were not mistaken. No, dear sirs, believing in Christ, who lived, and died, and rose again, they had confidence in the midst of pain, and joy in the hour of their departure. [Slide 17] We cannot believe that they were mistaken; therefore we are confident that Jesus Christ did rise from the dead. [Slide 18] VI. Once more, IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION, OUR SOURCE OF JOY IS GONE. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we, who believe that he did, are of all men the most miserable: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ,” and we certainly have no hope of any other life, apart from Christ, “we are of all men most miserable.” What does Paul mean? That Christian men are more miserable than others, if they are mistaken? No, he does not mean that; for even the mistake, if it be a mistake, gives them joy; the error, if it be an error, yields them a present confidence and peace. But supposing they are sure that they are under an error, that they have made a mistake, their comfort is gone, and they are of all men the most miserable. Believers have given up sensuous joys [Slide 19] And, more than that, we have now learned superior things. We have learned to love holiness, and we seek after it. We have learned to love communion with God, and it has become our heaven to talk with our Father and our Saviour. We now look after things which are spiritual; and we try to handle the things that are carnal as they should be handled, as things to be used, but not abused. Now if, after having tasted these superior joys, they all turn out to be nothing, and they must turn out to be nothing if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we are indeed of all men the most miserable. More than that, we have had high hopes, hopes that have made our hearts leap for joy. We have been ready sometimes to go straight away out of the body, with high delights and raptures, in the expectation of being “with Christ, which is far better.” We have said, “Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” We have been transported with the full conviction that our eyes “shall see the King in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off;” and if that be not sure, if it can be proved that our hopes are vain, then are we of all men the most miserable. [Slide 20] You will wonder why I have been so long in bringing out these points, and what I am driving at. Well, what I am driving at is this. After all, everything hinges upon a fact, an ancient fact, and if that fact is not a fact, it is all up with us. If Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, then his gospel is all exploded. What I want you to notice is this, that there must be a basis of fact in our religion; these things must be facts, or else nothing can give us consolation. [Slide 21] Our eternal hopes do not depend upon our moral condition; for, observe, these men in Corinth would not have been better or worse if Christ had not risen from the dead. Their character was just the same. It had been fashioned, it is true, by a belief that he did rise from the dead; but whether he did or did not, they were just the same men, so that their hope did not depend upon their good moral condition. The apostle does not say, “If you are or are not in such and such a moral condition,” but, “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” So, my beloved, the reason of your being safe will be that Christ died for you, and that he rose again; it is not the result of what you are, but of what he did. The hinge of it all is not in you: it is in him, and you are to place your reliance, not upon what you are, or hope to be, but wholly and entirely upon a great fact which transpired nearly nineteen hundred years ago. If he did not rise from the dead, you are in your sins still, be you as good as you may; but if he did rise from the dead, and you are one with him, you are not in your sins; they are all put away, and you are “accepted in the Beloved.” [Slide 22] Now I go a step further. The great hope you have does not hinge even upon your spiritual state. You must be born again; you must have a new heart and a right spirit, or else you cannot lay hold of Christ, and he is not yours; but still, your ultimate hope is not in what you are spiritually, but in what he is. When darkness comes over your soul, and you say, “I am afraid I am not converted,” still believe in him who rose from the dead; and when, after you have had a sight of yourself, you are drifting away to dark despair, still cling to him who loved you, and gave himself for you, and rose again from the dead for you. If you believe that Christ is risen from the dead, and if this be the foundation of your hope of heaven, that hope stands just as sure, whether you are bright or whether you are dull, whether you can sing or whether you are forced to sigh, whether you can run or whether you are a broken-legged cripple, only able to lie at Christ's feet. If he died for you, and rose again for you, there is the groundwork of your confidence, and I pray you, keep to it. Do you see how Paul insists upon this? “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” The inference is that, if Christ be raised, and you have faith in him, your faith is not vain, and you are not in your sins, you are saved. Your hope must not be here, in what your hands can do, but there, on yonder cross, in what he did, and there, on yonder throne, in him who has risen again for your justification. [Slide 23] The hardest thing in the world seems to be to keep people to this truth, for I have noticed that much of the modern-thought doctrine is nothing but old self-righteousness tricked out again. It is bidding men still to trust in themselves, to trust in their moral character, to trust in their spiritual aspirations, or something or other. I stand here to-night to say to you that the basis of your hope is not even your own faith, much less your own good works; but it is what Christ has done once for all, for “ye are complete in him,” and you can never be complete in any other way. Here, again, I would have you notice that Paul does not say that your being forgiven and saved depends upon your sincerity and your earnestness. You must be sincere and earnest; Christ is not yours if you are not; but still, you may be very sincere, and very earnest, and yet be wrong all the while; and the more sincere and earnest you are in a wrong way, the further you will go astray. The self-righteous man may be very sincere as he goes about to establish a righteousness of his own; but the more he does it, the more he ruins himself. But here is the mark for you to aim at, not at your sincerity, though there must be that; but if Christ was raised, and that is where you are resting your hopes, then you are not in your sins, but you are accepted in Christ, and justified in him. This is where I stand, and I pray every believer to keep here. There are many new discoveries made in science; we are pleased to hear it. I hope that we shall be able to travel more quickly, and pay less for it. I hope that we shall have better light, and that it will not be so expensive. The more true science, the better; but when science comes in to tell me that it has discovered anything about the way to heaven, then I have a deaf ear to it. “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain; ye are yet in your sins.” But if Christ be risen, then I know where I am. If it be really so, that he is God in human flesh; if he took my sin, and bore the consequences of it, and made a clear sweep of it from before the judgment-seat of the Most High; and if his rising again is God's testimony that the work is done, and that Christ, who stood as Substitute for me, is accepted for me, oh, hallelujah, hallelujah! What more do I need, but to praise and bless the name of him who has saved me with an effectual salvation? Now will I work for him. Now will I spend and be spent in his service. Now will I hate every false way, and every sin, and seek after purity and holiness; but not, in any sense, as the groundwork of my confidence. My one hope for time and eternity is Jesus, only Jesus; Jesus crucified and risen from the dead. [Slide 24] I do not know any passage of Scripture which, more thoroughly than this one, throws the stress where the stress must be, not on man, but on Christ alone: “If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” O dear hearer, if you would be saved, your salvation does not lie with yourself, but with him who left his Father's bosom, and came down to earth as a babe at Bethlehem, and hung upon a woman's breast; upon him who lived here, for thirty three years, a life of suffering and of toil, and who then took all the sin of his people upon himself, carried it up to the tree, and there bore all the consequences of it in his own body,— “Bore all that Almighty God could bear, With strength enough, but none to spare.” Jesus Christ bore that which has made God's pardon an act of justice, and vindicated his forgiveness of sin so that none can say that he is unjust when he passes by transgression. Christ did all that; and then, dying, was laid in the tomb, but, the third day, his Father raised him from the dead in token that he spoke the truth when he said, on the cross, “It is finished.” The debt is paid now; then, O sinner, leave your prison, for your debt is paid! Are you shut up in despair on account of your debt of sin? It is all discharged if you have believed in him who was raised from the dead. He has taken all your sin, and you are free. That handwriting of ordinances that was against you is nailed to his cross. Go your way, and sing, “The Lord is risen indeed,” and be as happy as all the birds in the air, till you are, by and by, as happy as the angels in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [Slide 25(end)] HE IS RISEN!

[Slide 1] Turn in your bible to I Corinthians chapter 15. In a moment we will read from the King James Version starting in verse 12. You can follow along in the pew bible starting on page 1297 or in whatever version you prefer. Today, I'll preach a sermon originally delivered by the Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. [Slide 2] Who is Charles Spurgeon? Born: June 19, 1834 It was clear from an early age that he was a prodigy. But In spite of his boyhood preaching and reading of theology books, his true conversion did not come until he was 15 years old. Although raised in a congregationalist church that baptized infants, he never believed the scriptures taught this and became a Credobaptist. In 1852 at the age of 17 he became the main preacher of the Baptist Church of Waterbeach. It grew from 40 congregants to 400 in the two years he preached there. In 1854 at the age of 19 he was called to take the pastorate of New Park Street Chapel of Southwark (Sutherk). This was a rather prestigious church which was formerly pastored by Benjamin Keach and John Gill. If those names mean nothing to you… you should go check them out. The church desired to give him the title of reverend which he rejected because he did not find any such title in the scriptures. Aside from his preaching Spurgeon had a magazine called the Sword and the Trowel. In these publications he spoke outwardly and boldly concerning the state of Christendom of his time. He used this venue to criticize the East India Trade Company's treatment of the Indian people, as well as the US Southerners for their acceptance of slavery. He called them kidnappers and even had a former slave speak in his church. In 1856 he established his “Pastor's College” where he endeavored to train Pastors. He did not run the college himself, but did frequently teach the students. Those lectures have been compiled into a book called “Lectures to My Students” which can still be purchased and read today. Spurgeon also opened several orphanages in London to care for street children. By 1861 the church had grown so much they needed to build a new building to accommodate 5000 attenders. The church was renamed the Metropolitan Tabernacle, which still exists today. Because of all of this, he was often ill. He would spend many winters in France to recover strength. One final contributing factor to his poor health came in 1859 when Charles Darwin published his Origin of Species. Although not directly eliminating God from creation, it paved the way for textual criticism and liberalism to emerge within the church. From 1859 on, churches and pastors began questioning the miracles of the scriptures, taking a more allegorical approach to the creation account, and questioning key doctrines such as the sinfulness of man, the truth of the resurrection, the inspiration of the bible, and the substitutionary atonement of Christ's death on the cross. All of this came to a head in 1887 in something called the Downgrade controversy. Spurgeon and his church were part of a collection of Baptist Churches called the Baptist Union. Although the Union was quite broad in their doctrine, Spurgeon began to criticize openly the inclusion of churches within the Union that were espousing the aforementioned liberal teachings. In 1887, Spurgeon published several articles in his Sword and the Trowel magazine arguing for the establishment of the traditional doctrines of plenary inspiration, the truth of the resurrection, the reality of hell and that many men will be punished there forever, and the substitutionary atonement of Christ as necessary doctrines that must be confessed to be a member of the Baptist Union. By the end of 1887, when it became apparent that the Baptist Union had no intention of adopting these doctrinal standards, Spurgeon removed himself and his church from membership. Since Spurgeon's church was easily the largest and most prestigious, this angered the other members of the Baptist Union. In 1888 the Union met and officially censured Spurgeon. They later met and took a vote on whether to adopt Spurgeon's doctrinal standards and the result was 2000 to 7. 2000 churches of the Baptist Union decided not to include these points in their official statement of faith. Four years later, at the age of 57, Spurgeon after suffering a great bout of gout and congestion of the kidneys, passed on into glory. He is still remembered today as the Prince of Preachers. He preached over 2000 sermons and many of them are still in print today. The sermon you will hear today is one which will make even more sense to you now that you know a little about him and the time in which he lived and the wars he was fighting for truth in England. He preached this sermon less than 2 years before he died, hot off the heels of the downgrade controversy. [Slide 3] We will read the text of the sermon today, I will pray, and from that point forward my words will be exclusively from Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He ends his sermon with an amen. At that point I will say, “He is risen!” To which you will reply, He is risen indeed. Then we will be dismissed. So please stand with me to give honor to and focus on the reading of the Word of God. I Corinthians 15 starting in verse 12. “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. — 1 Corinthians xv. 12— 19. [Slide 4] OUR religion is not based upon opinions, but upon facts. We hear persons sometimes saying, “Those are your views, and these are ours.” Whatever your “views” may be, is a small matter; what are the facts of the case? We must, after all, if we want a firm foundation, come down to matters of fact. Now, the great facts of the gospel are that God was incarnate in Christ Jesus, that he lived here a life of holiness and love, that he died upon the cross for our sins, that he was buried in the tomb of Joseph, that the third day he rose again from the dead, that after a while he ascended to his Father's throne where he now sitteth, and that he shall come by-and-by, to be our Judge, and in that day the dead in Christ shall rise by virtue of their union with him. Now, very soon, within the Church of God, there rose up persons who began to dispute about the fundamental and cardinal principles of the faith, and it is so even now. When those outside the Church deny that Christ is the Son of God, deny his atoning sacrifice, and deny his resurrection, we are not at all astonished; they are unbelievers, and they are acting out their own profession. But when men, inside the Church of God, call themselves Christians, and yet deny the resurrection of the dead, then is our soul stirred within us, for it is a most solemn and serious evil to doubt those holy truths. They know not what they do, they cannot see all the result of their unbelief; if they could, one would think that they would start back with horror, and replace the truth, and let it stand where it ought to stand, where God has put it. The resurrection of the dead has been assailed, and is assailed still, by those who are called Christians, even by those who are called Christian ministers, but who, nevertheless, spirit away the very idea of the resurrection of the dead, so that we are to-day in the same condition, to some extent, as the Corinthian church was when, in its very midst, there rose up men, professing to be followers of Christ, who said that there was no resurrection of the dead. The apostle Paul, having borne his witness, and recapitulated the testimony about the resurrection of Christ, goes on to show the horrible consequences which must follow if there be no resurrection of the dead, and if Christ be not risen. He showed this to be a foundation truth; and if it was taken away, much more was gone than they supposed; indeed, everything was gone, as Paul went on to prove. Beloved friends, let us never tamper with the truth of God. I find it as much as I can do to enjoy the comfort of the truth, and to learn the spiritual lessons of God's Word, without setting up to be a critic upon it; and I find it immeasurably more profitable to my own soul believingly to adore, than unbelievingly to invent objections, or even industriously to try to meet them. The meeting of objections is an endless work. When you have killed one regiment of them, there is another regiment coming on; and when you have put to the sword whole legions of doubts, doubters still swarm upon you like the frogs of Egypt. It is a poor business, it answers no practical end; it is better far firmly to believe what you profess to believe, and to follow out to all the blessed consequences every one of the truths which, in your own heart and soul, you have received of the Lord. One of the truths most surely believed among us is that there will be a resurrection of all those who sleep in Christ. There will be a resurrection of the ungodly as well as of the godly. Our Lord Jesus said to the Jews, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” Paul declared before Felix the doctrine of the “resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust;” but his argument with the Corinthians specially referred to believers, who will rise from the dead, and stand with Christ in the day of his appearing, quickened with the life that quickened him, and raised up to share the glory which the Father has given to him. [Slide 5] I. Paul's argument begins here, and this will be our first head, IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION, CHRIST IS NOT RISEN. If the resurrection of the dead is impossible, Christ cannot have risen from the dead. Now, the apostles bore witness that Christ had risen. They had met him, they had been with him, they had seen him eat a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb on one occasion. They had seen him perform acts which could not be performed by a spirit, but which needed that he should be flesh and bones. Indeed, he said, “A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” One of them put his finger into the print of the nails, and was invited to thrust his hand into Christ's side. He was known by two of them in the breaking of bread, a familiar token by which they recognized him better than by anything else. They heard him speak, they knew the tones of his voice; they were not deceived. On one occasion, five hundred of them saw him at once; or, if there was any possibility of a mistake when they were all together, they were not deceived when they saw him one by one, and entered into very close personal communion with him, each one after a different sort. “Now,” says Paul, “if there be no resurrection of the dead, if that is impossible, then, of course, Christ did not rise; and yet we all assure you that we saw him, and that we were with him, and you have to believe that we are all liars, and that the Christian religion is a lie, or else you must believe that there is a resurrection of the dead.” [Slide 6] “But,” says one, “Christ might rise, and yet not his people.” Not so, according to our faith and firm belief, Christ is one with his people. When Adam sinned, the whole human race fell in him, for they were one with him; in Adam all died. Even those that have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression have, nevertheless, died. Even upon infants the death-sentence has taken effect, because they were one with Adam. There is no separating Adam from his posterity. Now, Christ is the second Adam, and he has a posterity. All believers are one with him, and none can separate them from him. If they do not live, then he did not live; and if he did not rise, then they will not rise. But whatever happened unto him must also happen unto them. They are so welded together, the Head and the members, that there is no dividing them. If he had slept an eternal sleep, then every righteous soul would have done the same, too. If he rose again, they must rise again, for he has taken them unto himself to be part and parcel of his very being. He died that they might live. Because he lives they shall live also, and in his eternal life they must for ever be partakers. This is Paul's first argument, then, for the resurrection of the righteous, that, inasmuch as Christ rose, they must rise, for they are identified with him. [Slide 7] II. But now he proceeds with his subject, not so much arguing upon the resurrection of others as upon the resurrection of Christ; and his next argument is, that, IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION, APOSTOLIC PREACHING FALLS: “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain” (see the fourteenth verse). “Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.” If Christ was not raised, the apostles were false witnesses. When a man bears false witness, he usually has a motive for doing so. What motive had these men, what did they gain by bearing false witness to Christ's resurrection? It was all loss and no profit to them if he had not risen. They declared in Jerusalem that he had risen from the dead, and straightway men began to haul them to prison, and to put them to death. Those of them who survived bore the same testimony. They were so full of the conviction of it, that they went into distant countries to tell the story of Jesus and his resurrection from the dead. Some went to Rome, some to Spain; probably some came even to this remote island of Britain. Wherever they went, they testified that Christ had risen from the dead, and that they had seen him alive, and that he was the Saviour of all who trusted in him. Thus they always preached, and what became of them? I may say, with Paul, that “they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented.” They were brought before the Roman Emperor again and again, and before the pro-consuls, and threatened with the most painful of deaths; but not one of them ever withdrew his testimony concerning Christ's resurrection. They still stood to it, that they had known him in life, many of them had been near him in death, and they had all communed with him after his resurrection. They declared that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, that he died and was buried, that he rose again, and that there was salvation for all who believed in him. Were these men false witnesses? If so, they were the most extraordinary false witnesses who ever lived. What were their morals? What kind of men were they? Were they drunkards? Were they adulterers? Were they thieves? Nay; they were the purest and best of mankind; their adversaries could bring no charge against their moral conduct. They were eminently honest, and they spoke with the accent of conviction. As I have already said, they suffered for their testimony. Now, under the law, the witness of two men was to be received; but what shall we say of the witness of five hundred men? If it was true when they first declared that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, it is equally true now. It does not matter though the event happened nearly nineteen hundred years ago; it is just as true now. The apostles bore witness which could not be gainsaid, and so it still stands. We cannot assume that all these apostolic men were false witnesses of God. If we even suppose that they were mistaken about this matter, we must suspect their witness about everything else; and the only logical result is to give up the New Testament altogether. If they were mistaken as to Christ having risen from the dead, they are not credible witnesses upon anything else; and if they are discredited, the whole of our religion falls with them; the Christian faith, and especially all that the apostles built on the resurrection, must be turned out of doors as altogether a delusion. They taught that Christ's rising from the dead was the evidence that his sacrifice was accepted, that he rose again for our justification, that his rising again was the hope of believers in this life, and the assurance of the resurrection of their bodies in the life to come. You must give up all your hope of salvation the moment you doubt the Lord's rising from the dead. As for Paul, who puts himself with the rest of the apostles, and says, “If Christ be not risen, we are found false witnesses of God,” I venture to bring him forward as a solitary witness of the most convincing kind. I need not remind you how he was at first opposed to Christ. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, one of the most intolerant members of the sect that hated the very name of Christ. He had a righteousness that surpassed that of the men of his times. He was a religious leader and persecutor; and yet he was so convinced of the appearance of Christ to him on the way to Damascus, that from that time he was completely turned round, and he preached with burning zeal the faith which once he blasphemed. There is an honesty about Paul which convinces at once; and if he had not seen the Saviour risen from the dead, he would not have been the man to say that he did. Dear brethren, you may rest assured that Jesus Christ did rise from the dead. [Slide 8] You cannot put down these good men as impostors; you cannot reckon the apostle Paul among those readily deceived, or among the deceivers of others; so you may be sure that Jesus Christ did rise from the dead, according to the Scriptures. [Slide 9] III. Once more, Paul's argument is that, IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION, FAITH BECOMES DELUSION. As we have to give up the apostles and all their teaching, if Christ did not rise from the dead, so we must conclude that their hearers believed a lie: “your faith is also vain.” Beloved, I speak to you who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and who are resting in him with great comfort and peace of mind, yea, who have experienced a great change of heart, and a great change in your lives through faith in Christ. Now, if he did not rise from the dead, you are believing a lie. Take this home to yourselves: if he did not literally rise from the dead on the third day, this faith of yours, that gives you comfort, this faith which has renewed you in heart and life, this faith which you believe is leading you home to heaven, must be abandoned as a sheer delusion; your faith is fixed on a falsehood. Oh, dreadful inference! But the inference is clearly true if Christ is not risen; you are risking your soul on a falsehood if Christ did not rise from the dead. [Slide 10] This is a solemn statement. I said last Sabbath, and I repeat it,— “Upon a life I did not live, Upon a death I did not die, I risk my whole eternity.” It is so. If Jesus Christ did not die for me, and did not rise again for me, I am lost; I have not a ray of comfort from any other direction; I have no dependence on anything else but Jesus crucified and risen; and if that sheet-anchor fails, everything fails with it, in my case; and so it must in yours. “Your faith is also vain,” wrote Paul to the Corinthians, for, if Christ is not risen, the trial will be too great for faith to endure, since it has for the very keystone of the arch the resurrection of Christ from the dead. If he did not rise, your faith rests on what never happened, and is not true; and certainly your faith will not bear that, or any other trial. There comes to the believer, every now and then, a time of great testing. Did you ever lie, as I have done several times, upon the brink of eternity, full of pain, almost over the border of this world, fronting eternity, looking into the dread abyss? There, unless you are sure about the foundation of your faith, you are in an evil case indeed. Unless you have a solid rock beneath you then, your hope will shrink away to nothing, and your confidence will depart. When you are sure that “the Lord is risen, indeed,” then you feel that there is something beneath your foot that does not stir. If Jesus died for you, and Jesus rose for you, then, my dear brother, you are not afraid even of that tremendous day when the earth shall be burned up, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. You feel a confidence that will bear even that test. If Christ did not rise from the dead, and you are resting your soul on the belief that he did rise, what a failure it will be for you in another world, what disappointment when you do not wake up in his likeness, what dismay if there should be no pardon of sin, no salvation through the precious blood! If Christ is not risen, your faith is vain. If it is vain, give it up; do not hold on to a thing that is not true. I would sooner plunge into the water, and swim or wade through the river, than I would trust myself to a rotten bridge that would break down in the middle. [Slide 11] If Christ did not rise, do not trust him, for such faith is vain; but, if you believe that he did die for you, and did rise again for you, then believe in him, joyously confident that such a fact as this affords a solid basis for your belief. [Slide 12] IV. Now I am going to advance a little further. Paul says next that, IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION, THEY REMAINED IN THEIR SINS: “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” Ah! can ye bear that thought, my beloved in Christ, that ye are yet in your sins? I think that the bare suggestion takes hold upon you, terrifies you, and chills your blood. A little while ago, you were in your sins, dead in them, covered with them as with a crimson robe, you were condemned, lost. But now, you believe that Christ has brought you out of your sins, and washed you and made you white in his precious blood; ay, and has so changed you that sin shall not have dominion over you, for now you are by grace a child of God. Well, but, if Christ did not rise again, you are yet in your sins. [Slide 13] Observe that; for then there is no atonement made; at least, no satisfactory atonement. If the atonement of Christ for sin had been unsatisfactory, he would have remained in the grave. He went there on our behalf, a hostage for us; and if what he did upon the tree had not satisfied the justice of God, then he would never have come out of the grave again. Think for a minute what our position would be, if I stood here to preach only a dead and buried Christ! He died nearly nineteen hundred years ago; but suppose he had never been heard of since. If he had not risen from the dead, could you have confidence in him? You would say, “How do we know that his sacrifice was accepted?” We sing right truly,— “If Jesus ne'er had paid the debt, He ne'er had been at freedom set.” The Surety would have been under bonds unless he had discharged all his liability; but he has done so, and he has risen from the dead,— “And now both the Surety and sinner are free.” Understand clearly what I am saying. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took upon himself the sum total of the guilt of all his people. “The Lord hath made to meet upon him the iniquity of us all.” He died, and by his death obtained the full discharge of all our obligations. But his rising again was, so to speak, the receipt in full, the token that he had discharged the whole of the dread liabilities which he had taken upon himself; and now, since Christ is risen, you who believe in him are not in your sins. But, if he had not risen, then it would have been true, “Ye are yet in your sins.” [Slide 14] It would have been true, also, in another sense. The life by which true believers live is the resurrection-life of him who said, “Because I live, ye shall live also.” But if Christ is not risen, there is no life for those who are in him. If he were still slumbering in the grave, where would have been the life that now makes us joyful, and makes us aspire after heavenly things? There would have been no life for you if there had not first been life for him. “Now is Christ risen from the dead,” and in him you rise into newness of life; but, if he did not rise, you are still dead, still under sin, still without the divine life, still without the life immortal and eternal that is to be your life in heaven throughout eternity. So, you see, once more, the consequences that follow: “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” [Slide 15] V. Now follows, if possible, a still more terrible consequence. IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION, ALL THE PIOUS DEAD HAVE PERISHED: “Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” “Perished”, by which is not meant “annihilated”; they are in a worse condition than that. [Slide 16] One phrase must be explained by the other which went before it; if Jesus Christ is not risen, they are yet in their sins. They died, and they told us that they were blood-washed and forgiven; and that they hoped to see the face of God with joy; but if Christ rose not from the dead, there is no sinner who has gone to heaven, there is no saint who ever died, who has had any real hope; he has died under a delusion, and he has perished. If Jesus Christ be not raised, the godly dead are yet in their sins, and they can never rise; for, if Christ did not rise from the dead, they cannot rise from the dead. Only through his resurrection is there resurrection for the saints. The ungodly shall rise to shame and everlasting contempt; but believers shall rise into eternal life and felicity because of their oneness with Christ; but, if he did not rise, they cannot rise. If he is dead, they must be dead, for they must share with him. They are, they ever must be, one with him; and all the saints who ever died, died under a mistake if Christ did not rise. We cast away the thought with abhorrence. Many of us have had beloved parents and friends who have died in the Lord, and we know that the full assurance of their faith was no mistake. We have seen dear children die in sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection; and we know that it was no error on their part. I have stood by many death-beds of believers, many triumphant, and many more peaceful and calm as a sweet summer evening. They were not mistaken. No, dear sirs, believing in Christ, who lived, and died, and rose again, they had confidence in the midst of pain, and joy in the hour of their departure. [Slide 17] We cannot believe that they were mistaken; therefore we are confident that Jesus Christ did rise from the dead. [Slide 18] VI. Once more, IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION, OUR SOURCE OF JOY IS GONE. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we, who believe that he did, are of all men the most miserable: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ,” and we certainly have no hope of any other life, apart from Christ, “we are of all men most miserable.” What does Paul mean? That Christian men are more miserable than others, if they are mistaken? No, he does not mean that; for even the mistake, if it be a mistake, gives them joy; the error, if it be an error, yields them a present confidence and peace. But supposing they are sure that they are under an error, that they have made a mistake, their comfort is gone, and they are of all men the most miserable. Believers have given up sensuous joys [Slide 19] And, more than that, we have now learned superior things. We have learned to love holiness, and we seek after it. We have learned to love communion with God, and it has become our heaven to talk with our Father and our Saviour. We now look after things which are spiritual; and we try to handle the things that are carnal as they should be handled, as things to be used, but not abused. Now if, after having tasted these superior joys, they all turn out to be nothing, and they must turn out to be nothing if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we are indeed of all men the most miserable. More than that, we have had high hopes, hopes that have made our hearts leap for joy. We have been ready sometimes to go straight away out of the body, with high delights and raptures, in the expectation of being “with Christ, which is far better.” We have said, “Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” We have been transported with the full conviction that our eyes “shall see the King in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off;” and if that be not sure, if it can be proved that our hopes are vain, then are we of all men the most miserable. [Slide 20] You will wonder why I have been so long in bringing out these points, and what I am driving at. Well, what I am driving at is this. After all, everything hinges upon a fact, an ancient fact, and if that fact is not a fact, it is all up with us. If Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, then his gospel is all exploded. What I want you to notice is this, that there must be a basis of fact in our religion; these things must be facts, or else nothing can give us consolation. [Slide 21] Our eternal hopes do not depend upon our moral condition; for, observe, these men in Corinth would not have been better or worse if Christ had not risen from the dead. Their character was just the same. It had been fashioned, it is true, by a belief that he did rise from the dead; but whether he did or did not, they were just the same men, so that their hope did not depend upon their good moral condition. The apostle does not say, “If you are or are not in such and such a moral condition,” but, “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” So, my beloved, the reason of your being safe will be that Christ died for you, and that he rose again; it is not the result of what you are, but of what he did. The hinge of it all is not in you: it is in him, and you are to place your reliance, not upon what you are, or hope to be, but wholly and entirely upon a great fact which transpired nearly nineteen hundred years ago. If he did not rise from the dead, you are in your sins still, be you as good as you may; but if he did rise from the dead, and you are one with him, you are not in your sins; they are all put away, and you are “accepted in the Beloved.” [Slide 22] Now I go a step further. The great hope you have does not hinge even upon your spiritual state. You must be born again; you must have a new heart and a right spirit, or else you cannot lay hold of Christ, and he is not yours; but still, your ultimate hope is not in what you are spiritually, but in what he is. When darkness comes over your soul, and you say, “I am afraid I am not converted,” still believe in him who rose from the dead; and when, after you have had a sight of yourself, you are drifting away to dark despair, still cling to him who loved you, and gave himself for you, and rose again from the dead for you. If you believe that Christ is risen from the dead, and if this be the foundation of your hope of heaven, that hope stands just as sure, whether you are bright or whether you are dull, whether you can sing or whether you are forced to sigh, whether you can run or whether you are a broken-legged cripple, only able to lie at Christ's feet. If he died for you, and rose again for you, there is the groundwork of your confidence, and I pray you, keep to it. Do you see how Paul insists upon this? “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” The inference is that, if Christ be raised, and you have faith in him, your faith is not vain, and you are not in your sins, you are saved. Your hope must not be here, in what your hands can do, but there, on yonder cross, in what he did, and there, on yonder throne, in him who has risen again for your justification. [Slide 23] The hardest thing in the world seems to be to keep people to this truth, for I have noticed that much of the modern-thought doctrine is nothing but old self-righteousness tricked out again. It is bidding men still to trust in themselves, to trust in their moral character, to trust in their spiritual aspirations, or something or other. I stand here to-night to say to you that the basis of your hope is not even your own faith, much less your own good works; but it is what Christ has done once for all, for “ye are complete in him,” and you can never be complete in any other way. Here, again, I would have you notice that Paul does not say that your being forgiven and saved depends upon your sincerity and your earnestness. You must be sincere and earnest; Christ is not yours if you are not; but still, you may be very sincere, and very earnest, and yet be wrong all the while; and the more sincere and earnest you are in a wrong way, the further you will go astray. The self-righteous man may be very sincere as he goes about to establish a righteousness of his own; but the more he does it, the more he ruins himself. But here is the mark for you to aim at, not at your sincerity, though there must be that; but if Christ was raised, and that is where you are resting your hopes, then you are not in your sins, but you are accepted in Christ, and justified in him. This is where I stand, and I pray every believer to keep here. There are many new discoveries made in science; we are pleased to hear it. I hope that we shall be able to travel more quickly, and pay less for it. I hope that we shall have better light, and that it will not be so expensive. The more true science, the better; but when science comes in to tell me that it has discovered anything about the way to heaven, then I have a deaf ear to it. “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain; ye are yet in your sins.” But if Christ be risen, then I know where I am. If it be really so, that he is God in human flesh; if he took my sin, and bore the consequences of it, and made a clear sweep of it from before the judgment-seat of the Most High; and if his rising again is God's testimony that the work is done, and that Christ, who stood as Substitute for me, is accepted for me, oh, hallelujah, hallelujah! What more do I need, but to praise and bless the name of him who has saved me with an effectual salvation? Now will I work for him. Now will I spend and be spent in his service. Now will I hate every false way, and every sin, and seek after purity and holiness; but not, in any sense, as the groundwork of my confidence. My one hope for time and eternity is Jesus, only Jesus; Jesus crucified and risen from the dead. [Slide 24] I do not know any passage of Scripture which, more thoroughly than this one, throws the stress where the stress must be, not on man, but on Christ alone: “If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” O dear hearer, if you would be saved, your salvation does not lie with yourself, but with him who left his Father's bosom, and came down to earth as a babe at Bethlehem, and hung upon a woman's breast; upon him who lived here, for thirty three years, a life of suffering and of toil, and who then took all the sin of his people upon himself, carried it up to the tree, and there bore all the consequences of it in his own body,— “Bore all that Almighty God could bear, With strength enough, but none to spare.” Jesus Christ bore that which has made God's pardon an act of justice, and vindicated his forgiveness of sin so that none can say that he is unjust when he passes by transgression. Christ did all that; and then, dying, was laid in the tomb, but, the third day, his Father raised him from the dead in token that he spoke the truth when he said, on the cross, “It is finished.” The debt is paid now; then, O sinner, leave your prison, for your debt is paid! Are you shut up in despair on account of your debt of sin? It is all discharged if you have believed in him who was raised from the dead. He has taken all your sin, and you are free. That handwriting of ordinances that was against you is nailed to his cross. Go your way, and sing, “The Lord is risen indeed,” and be as happy as all the birds in the air, till you are, by and by, as happy as the angels in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [Slide 25(end)] HE IS RISEN!

Caleb Morell joins David Schrock to discuss his longform essay "'The Power and Duty of An Association': Have Baptist Associations Historically Disfellowshipped Disorderly Churches?" Timestamps Intro – 00:37 About Caleb Morrell – 2:23 Why is the History of Baptist Associationalism Important for Today? - 04:01 Walking Through the History of the Philidelphia Association - 06:35 What's the Connection of the Philidelphia Association and the History of Baptists in America? - 08:18 What is Benjamin Griffith Arguing For with New Testament Churches and Baptist Churches? - 09:56 Stories of Churches that Illustrate Associationalism - 12:20 What are Other Ways Associationalism Played Itself Out? - 14:57 What Can We Learn From Our Baptist Brothers Who Have Gone Before Us? - 18:32 What Was Capitol Hill Baptist Church Waiting For? - 20:18 Is It Possible Now in the SBC to Do What the Earlier Baptist Associations Have Done? - 23:00 Churches Disfellowshipped - 29:10 Having a Tighter or Looser Confession and Commitment - 30:51 James Merritt's Statement and Where We Are Today - 39:06 Outro – 44:23  Resources to Click “'The Power and Duty of an Association': Have Baptist Associations Historically Disfellowshipped Disorderly Churches?” – Caleb Morrell Theme: Creeds, Confessions, and Cooperation Christoverall.com/give

Welcome to the audio digest of this week's issue of The Alabama Baptist and The Baptist Paper. Each episode features news headlines and feature stories read by TAB Media Group staff and volunteers. New episodes are released weekly on Wednesday mornings. Articles of Interest: Alabama Baptist churches host Night to Shine on event's 10th anniversary (4:55) 'Unsung Hero' movie displays a mother's unwavering faith (10:57) Keyboard festivals encourage MS children who ‘change the world' (15:08) Visit TAB Media HERE Subscribe on iTunes HERE Visit Reliable Signs HERE

Podcast: rwh.podbean.com Website: www.runwithhorses.net Youtube: https://youtube.com/@rwhpodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RWHpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rwh_podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/RWH_podcast Today we continue looking at the essential church. Or the minimal church. Maybe just church. I started last week by asking, “What is the church? Specifically I wanted to look at the idea of Minimal or Essential Ecclesiology. Quick review.   Minimal: The least viable form or the least possible to call something a church. What can you remove from your existing church and it still be a church?   Essential: If you have nothing else you must at least have this to call it a church.   Ecclesiology: doctrine relating to the church   The goal is to consider the smallest, most adaptable, most flexible definition of the church. Why? Because the church is intended to be multiplied in any environment. If church planting is really important, and we are going to do it, we need to identify the seed, the core definition of church. You don't start with the finished product in gardening or in church planting or in disciple making! What do you start with? A seed that contains the DNA of the future life at maturity.   Resources: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/chuch-of-shrinking-definition/ https://www.catalystnw.org/Groups/1000103697/Catalyst/Catalyst_Network/Microchurches/Microchurches.aspx#:~:text=Our%20%22definition%20of%20church%22%20(,Jesus%2C%20they%20are%20the%20church. https://www.tampaunderground.com/microchurches https://saturatetheworld.com/2021/01/26/7-marks-of-essential-ecclesiology/ https://www.ruralministry.net/post/ecclesiology-and-the-rural-church Christ Loved the Church by William MacDonald Rediscover Church: Why the body of Christ is essential by Collin Hanson and Jonathan Leeman The Doctrine and Administration of the Church by Paul R Jackson Doctrine of the Church by Dr. Harold L. Wilmington Practical Christian Theology by Floyd H. Barakman Principles and Practices for Baptist Churches by Edward T. Hiscox https://realfaith.com/what-christians-believe/characteristics-church/ Future Church by Will Mancini and Cory Hartman  

Ben Edwards talks with John Aloisi about the origin of baptist churches.

A new MP3 sermon from Liberty Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Baptist Churches: Baffling or Biblical Speaker: Rick Brooks Broadcaster: Liberty Baptist Church Event: Sunday - PM Date: 1/21/2024 Bible: Hebrews 10:24-25 Length: 48 min.

Ben Edwards talks with Mark Snoeberger about the distinctives of baptist churches.

The Circular Letter from the Ministers and Messengers of the several Baptist Churches composing the Kent and Sussex Association, assembled at Sheerness, Kent, June the 1st and 2d, 1830

This Sunday we have the privilege of hearing from: Bob Webber - Brownfield Grow Project/Canadian Foodgrains Bank Gato Munyamasoko - Association of Baptist Churches in Rwanda These two individuals will be sharing stories and updates about the great work God is doing here locally in Alberta and globally in Rwanda.

A viewer recently submitted the following: “I would really enjoy a video/series about Methodists and what they believe. I grew up in Baptist Churches, in particular Free Will and general Baptist Churches, so I don't know a great deal about what they believe. I would also really like to know your opinion on the schism that is happening in the United Methodist Church and the breakaway Global Methodist Church. As an outsider of the denomination, it's been fairly difficult to follow. I know it is not entirely Bible related, but learning about other Church traditions is definitely very important for understanding my fellow Christians and being more unified even when not in direct fellowship.” On this episode, we're bringing in an expert! Dr. Matt O'Reilly is Lead Pastor of Christ Church Birmingham, Director of Research at Wesley Biblical Seminary, and a fellow of the Center for Pastor Theologians. You can see more of Matt's work on YouTube at @TheologyProjectOnline and follow him on Twitter at @mporeilly Matt's interview with Bishop Scott Jones can be viewed over on his YouTube channel at - https://youtu.be/zoh-Uy2_NA8 -----Some recommended resources on Methodism and Wesley: * The Works of John Wesley - https://www.ebay.com/itm/186067649944 ***Wesley's writings are also available for free online at: https://godrules.net/library/wesley/wesley.htm * The Theology of John Wesley by Kenneth Collins - https://www.amazon.com/Theology-John-Wesley-Shape-Grace/dp/0687646332/ * Wesley and the People Called Methodists by Richard Heitzenrater - https://www.amazon.com/Wesley-People-Called-Methodists-Second/dp/142674224X/ * Turning Around the Mainline by Tom Oden - https://www.amazon.com/Turning-Around-Mainline-Movements-Changing/dp/0801065763/ * Cleansed and Abiding by JM Smith - https://www.amazon.com/Cleansed-Abiding-Proposed-Christian-Perfection/dp/1475128088 * The Next Methodism - https://www.amazon.com/Next-Methodism-Theological-Missional-Foundations/dp/1628249358/ ——— Here's how to submit viewer questions to DiscipleDojo: https://youtu.be/_bEUVpTSWLs ——— ***Disciple Dojo swag and gifts are available over in our online store! - https://tinyurl.com/24ncuas2 ***Become a monthly Dojo Donor and help keep us going! - https://www.discipledojo.org/donate ***If you are an unmarried Christian looking for community, check out our Facebook group “The Grownup's Table” over at www.facebook.com/groups/grownupstable ------ Go deeper at www.discipledojo.org

Pastor Ian Grant, current President of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, brings God's message on the 'Stickability required for Church Planting' from Acts 18:1-17You can watch this message via: https://youtu.be/ZxkzPLjnAp0 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Smaller Baptist churches across the country are struggling to keep their doors open. Why?

Bountiful blessings: We began July with a five-day trip to Croatia. We were able to take two Locals with us and celebrate the 4th of July with some wonderful missionary friends. We also had the exciting opportunity as a church to begin the support of our first foreign missionary, a native Croatian! Soon we will be taking the church group and children to the City zoo for a fun time together. We have our first “Friend Day in the Park” scheduled for September 16. Flyers are made and I am attempting to brush up on my limited guitar skills for this as well. Also coming up on Sept 30th I have been invited to give the Gospel during one of our Serbian friend's wedding.Russian Church: -Due to the war in Ukraine, we have unexpectedly been having more Russians attend church with us than Locals. They were rather shocked when they found out about the lack of biblical Baptist Churches here. So please for Sergei and Tatiana and their 7 children, and a young lady from northern Russia named Ekaterina.Seekers and Church Family: As far as the locals God has given us, we have been blessed to have Lju and Alexandra who have undergone discipleship lessons, been reaffirmed of their salvation, and re-baptized here. They are a blessing and are a vital part of God's work here. Also, we have several seekers meeting with us you can pray for. These are people interested but not ready for commitment to Christ. Please pray for Cvetko, Dragolub, and Samuel who is from Canada and studying medicine here. And Želko. Some of these come to Church and some I meet with regularly. Also, there is a small group in the south 4 hours away, who I would like to meet with more. Lastly, there is Stephan in Capital, a Christian striving for his own way of life.Prayer requests: Please pray for all the legal things we keep navigating. In short, we had a hospital keep $1,800 from us for the birth of our daughter who was not born in the hospital. The attorney who helps us stay in here is asking the judge here for a refund. As foreigners it's easy to be deceived and taken advantage of. Please pray this money will be restored to us. Ministries: As always please pray for the Church here, for the translation ministries, for the media ministries, traveling, outreaches, and our winter campaign plans in the north.  We finished our meetings in the capitol a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to all who have helped in support and in special ways, for reaching out and fulfilling not only our needs but also our desires. God Bless you all.Millers...

In this episode of the Grace Church Members Podcast, Chris Rivers and Scott Moziongo interview Derek Nelson and Jenn Comer, members of the Outreach Team at Grace Church. Derek and Jenn discuss our partnerships with Hunger Corp in Puerto Rico, Christ for the City International in Nicaragua, and the OVC program supporting orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya. They also discuss a new partnership with the Association of Baptist Churches in Israel (ABC). In all these countries, long-term relationships with local churches and pastors are essential to Grace Church's outreach efforts. The episode concludes with an invitation for listeners to get involved in various ways with Outreach opportunities that support our discipleship. Time stamps for GCMP: Outreach 00:30 - Jenn and Derek explain their roles in current outreach programs at Grace. Updates on Four International Partnerships: 03:39 Puerto Rico: Partnering with Hunger Corp.; 3-4 trips per year, 5-6 days each, to help poor families rebuild from Hurricane Maria and beyond 08:40 Nicaragua: Christ for the City International (CFCI) A trip of 24 Grace members going in July 2023 16:50 Team dynamics; volunteer leaders 19:50 Kenya: Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) 75-80 children in long-term advocacy program with Grace volunteers 28:24 Israel: Association of Baptist Churches (ABC) Working with Palestinian Christians, a few Muslims in the Nazareth region If you have questions or want access to additional resources, be sure to check out the podcast page at https://resources.gracechurchsc.org/podcasts/memberspodcast

Colin Cooper from the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland joins us to share from various passages in Mark's Gospel about the authority that Jesus has in the Spiritual world.You can watch this message via: https://youtu.be/PaKXwSVytaI Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk a lot about partnership at Baptist Mission Australia, but what does it really mean? What makes a healthy ministry partnership? Why is working together sometimes so hard? And is true, equal partnership across cultures even possible? In this episode, Nathan, Suzanne and Marbz explore these questions and more. Suzanne is preparing to head to the Silk Road Area, joining our intercultural team. And Marbz works at the Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT and has many years experience partnering with community development projects and other organisations.  It's a thought provoking conversations that tackles the way power dynamics play out in a partnership and impact outcomes, as well as what true empowerment looks like. Suzanne and Marbz also explore what they take away from Paul's letter in Philippians 1:3-6.  .....................This is the fourth and final episode in our Alongsiders podcast series for May Mission Month 2023. Thanks for listening! Missioning will be back with another series later in the year.Explore the full suite of May Mission Month resources: www.baptistmissionaustralia.org/MMMresources Support the Show.

Pastor Lee Campbell from Strandtown Baptist Church joins us on Association Sunday, as we reflect on the wider family of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland. Lee brings a message from Psalm 46 helping us to see that when we're confronted with chaos, hostility and violence, our confidence need not be shaken because our God is a strong deliverer. You can watch this message here: https://youtu.be/hgWfg_gq87E Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(Genesis 1:31-2:4) This week we have Elliot Keane from Baptist Churches of South Australia here to share about the beautiful gift of Sabbath rest that God has given us in His creation.

Dr. McIntyre began this final devotional session by sharing two unusual names for Baptist Churches. The first was Hell Hole Swamp Baptist Church in South Carolina and the second was Tight Wad Baptist Church in Missouri. He then began his last message by reading about Abraham in Genesis as he breathed his life. It was said He died full of years and a good man. There are four other Biblical characters who were described the same way. Brother McIntyre then talked on the lives of Isaac, Job, Jehodiah, and David. Then as the conference closed Brother McIntyre encouraged the attendees to live the full life, the overflowing life in the midst of whatever difficulties came their way and be stabilized by their faith in the Messiah and with friends and fellows Christians who add their strength to their strength and make life worth living.

A Place Called Poarch - The Churches that Made PoarchFrom Baptist to Pentecostal to Episcopal, The Tribe has always had a strong connection to Christianity. Though the Poarch community was so small when all of these denominations got their start, they were still able to thrive. Their success was due, in part, to each denomination leader's willingness to allow the religion to adapt to the Poarch community's way of life.Today, we hear interviews from the 1970s between Reverend Mace McGhee and Dr. Anthony Paredes. Mace tells about the vibrant history of Christianity within the Poarch community.Time Stamps:[1:35] - We learn a brief history of Reverend Mace McGhee.[4:16] - The first Christian Church was Mars Hills Baptist Church in the 1800s. [10:00] - Baptist Churches came to Bell Creek first.[13:00] - We hear an old interview clip from 1972 where Mace talks about the Baptist Church.[15:00] - There were two Episcopal Churches brought to The Poarch community.[19:00] - Mace tells a story about being raised in the Episcopal Church.[23:45] - In the 1920s, the Holiness Church came to The Tribe when Brother Raymond Coon came.[28:50] - A Company owned land that they allowed the Episcopal Church to use.[32:00] - Mace tells us about some of the past Holiness Church pastors.[35:20] - There were many different denominations of the Holiness Church.[39:00] - The New Home Church has a long history. We hear Mace tell us.[42:23] - In the 1950s, The Poarch Community Church began as a Mennonite Church.[47:30] - Within the Mennonite Community, women were typically required to dress a certain way. But women in the Poarch Community didn't have resources to dress that way.[52:45] - Churches quickly learned they needed to adapt to the Indian way of life.Links:WebsiteFacebookInstagram

What is God doing among us today?  Fresh off their "junket" to Padstow for a leadership intensive, Pastor Chris joins Jonathan and Ardin to unpack what it means to be Building a Discipling Culture ("BDC") here at WDBC.  We are asking what it looks like for WDBC to be transforming in the ways that God intended.  Press in as we break the glass on our faith and engage the "God of the present."  PLUS: "Breaking News" as our Associate Pastor Stephen Cole has been invited to candidate at Coffs Harbour Baptist Church for the lead pastor role. _For more information on BDC ("putting the mission of God in the hands of ordinary people") go to: https://www.bdc.org.au/ Here is a book by Mike Breen with the same title, "Building A Discipling Culture" If you have any questions about the Cole's (potential) transition, email elders@wdbc.org.au

Hear some encouraging stories from Jack Kopeikin and Hamish Millard about their time doing the Baptist Churches of SA Leadership Internship in 2022.

We're on a journey. In partnership with our global Baptist movement, Baptist Mission Australia is seeking to rethink the ‘from the west to the rest' model of intercultural mission, and move to a ‘from everywhere to everywhere' model. And that's the focus of this 'Everywhere to Everywhere' podcast series.The future of global mission is polyvocal and polycentric. Polyvocal, meaning many voices, and polycentric, meaning many centres. This is about elevating the voices of people from diverse cultural, linguistic and geographical backgrounds and decentering the western church as the instigator, decision maker, sender and funder.This conversation is happening at a global level. And we want to be part of it. At a Baptist Mission Australia level, we are actively seeking to open the circle to welcome new people, partnerships and possibilities. We invite you to come on the journey with us through this podcast series and beyond. Everywhere to Everywhere: Episode OneIn this first episode, we meet our series host Geoff Maddock and hear from guests Muana and Jodie. Muana brings rich lived experience to the conversation as an intercultural team member sent from India by Baptist Mission Australia and the Baptist Churches of Mizoram to Thailand. He's been there with Villy and their three daughters for 20 years! And Jodie MacCartney brings great insight from her years serving in Thailand as well as from her current role at Baptist Mission Australia as a Mobilisation Specialist.Together, Geoff, Muana and Jodie explore what polycentric and polyvocal mission is, and then flesh out the concepts with stories and reflections from their lived experience. It's a conversation full of humility, faithfulness and questions without simple answers. Join us!Support the Show.

In this episode, Dave and Patrick attempt to answer these (and some additional) questions concerning fasting, lent, and penance. Are all of these (fasting, lent, and penance) found in the Bible? Who fasted in the Bible? What guidelines do we find for fasting in the Bible? Why do we fast? How do we fast properly? Are Lenten fasts in line with biblical principles? What are the most likely “pitfalls” of observing Lent? Why is penance not taught in Baptist Churches? Listen now and be blessed!

9/11/2022 Sunday Evening

Here I offer five appeals toward a case for open membership among Baptist churches. Links referenced in the videos: My first video theological triage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Dy85m9rUU My dialogue with Jonathan Leeman: https://mereorthodoxy.com/baptism-church-membership/ Joe Rigney's article: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/do-infant-baptisms-count Luke Stamp's article: https://jbtsonline.org/a-response-to-peter-j-leithart-by-r-lucas-stamps/ Truth Unites is a mixture of apologetics and theology, with an irenic focus. Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) serves as senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Ojai. SUPPORT: Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/truthunites One time donation: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/truthunites FOLLOW: Twitter: https://twitter.com/gavinortlund Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruthUnitesPage/ Website: https://gavinortlund.com/

It's Thursday, August 18th, A.D. 2022. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Ugandan Muslims cut off recent Christian convert's hand Morning Star News reports Muslim extremists in Uganda recently attacked a man who left Islam for Christianity.  Musa John Kasadah, his wife, and six children came to Christ at an open-air event back in June.  Last month, Kasadah and his family fled for safety after Muslims sent a threatening message to their pastor. But the extremists ambushed the family last month. They beat him and even cut off his hand, intending to kill him. Thankfully, the arrival of sugarcane workers interrupted the attack, and Kasadah was taken to the hospital.   The attack is one of many recent instances of persecution against Christians in Uganda. Russia wiped out 400 Ukrainian Baptist churches The Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary reports they have lost about 400 churches since Russia invaded the country six months ago. And the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists reports that dozens of pastors from the 2300 Baptist congregations in Ukraine have been forced to leave places destroyed by the war. Ukrainian pastors say their challenge is not just rebuilding structures but rebuilding leadership capacity that was lost. Pastor Yaroslav Pyzh with the baptist seminary said, “The real challenge is similar to Nehemiah's challenge. It's not only rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. It's rebuilding the nation of Israel, of worshiping God. . . . That's the same thing here in Ukraine.”   Evangelical Lutherans pass the Biblical test Last Thursday, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America  voted to potentially revise their social statement on human sexuality, reports the Christian Post.  The 2009 statement said the denomination did not have a consensus on people living in vile passions with the same sex. The statement did recognize that “on the basis of conscience-bound belief, some are convinced that same-gender sexual behavior is sinful and contrary to biblical teaching.”  The statement is now up for revision as the denomination's leaders welcome people living sexually perverted lifestyles without calling them to repentance. Romans 2:4 says, “Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” Biden opens 80 million acres of Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling The U.S. Department of the Interior must increase fossil fuel production on federal lands and waters as part of the Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Joe Biden on Tuesday. The Act reinstates Lease Sale 257, the largest oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history. It covers over 80 million acres across the Gulf of Mexico. Frank Macchiarola with the American Petroleum Institute told FOX Business, "While reinstating Lease Sale 257 is a positive step forward for American energy leadership, the legislation, as a whole, falls well short of addressing America's long-term energy needs.” Louisiana allows abortion ban to stand Last Friday, the Louisiana Supreme Court denied appeals by plaintiffs attempting to block the state's abortion ban. Louisiana's abortion ban was triggered by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Now, the last three abortion mills in the state are closing and relocating to other states. R-rated film sales dropped 26% Box office revenue from R-rated films is at a 25-year low. R-rated moves accounted for 14% of theater sales this year, down from 40% in the 1990s. Such films are being pushed to at-home streaming instead. In 2021, every movie that grossed over $100 million at the box office was rated PG-13. This year, the same is true with a few exceptions. Archaeological evidence for Second Temple discovered And finally, the experts at Israel Antiquities Authority announced last Sunday that they've discovered evidence of the destruction of the Second Temple by Roman general Titus in A.D. 70. The antiquity experts uncovered a 2,000-year-old battleground in Jerusalem's Russian Compound, one of the city's oldest districts. Archaeologists found stones they believe were used as projectiles to break down the walls of Jerusalem by the Roman army. The Roman arsenal included hundreds of ballista stones as well as catapult machines capable of launching projectiles hundreds of meters. Eli Eskosido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said, “The physical evidence of the huge resources employed by the Roman army in Jerusalem, reflect the extremely harsh battles that eventually led to the destruction of the Second Temple.” Matthew 24:1-2 says, “Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.'” And now you know the rest of the story! Close And that's The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Thursday, August 18th, in the year of our Lord 2022. Subscribe by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

A new MP3 sermon from The World View in 5 Minutes is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Russia wiped out 400 Ukrainian Baptist churches Subtitle: The World View in Five Minutes Speaker: Adam McManus Broadcaster: The World View in 5 Minutes Event: Current Events Date: 8/18/2022 Length: 6 min.

Don't ever try to bargain with God, or you'll end up cheating yourself. Don't try to keep your own books and remind God what you've done; He knows.Don't focus on the other laborers in the field. Don't fuss with them; forgive them. Don't measure your success by how much you do; measure it by why you do it. (Do you do what you do because you've got to do it, or because you get to do it?)God rewards faithfulness, not seniority. There's no moving up in the Kingdom of God.It pays to serve Jesus. He is the reward. (Are you working for Him, or for them?)God has used Pastor Michael to preach the gospel for over fifty years at churches in Arkansas, New York, South and North Carolina. He loves and understands pastors and Great Commission churches. He has personally led two teams each year on international mission trips for the past 37 years. He has been a trustee for 8 years and South Asia Chairman for the past 3 years. In his new role as Mission Strategist for the Cape Fear Network of Baptist Churches, God uses him to assist 70 churches to fulfill the great commission. He and his wife Tebra have 3 children and 8 grandchildren. 

The International Fellowship of Free Will Baptist Churches (IFOFWBC) unites churches from around the world for the purposes of identification, communion, and mutual edification and encouragement. Dr. Kenneth Eagleton, secretary-treasurer of the fellowship and director of field partnerships for IM, Inc., shares about the history of the fellowship, its membership, and details of its upcoming meeting in September in Bulgaria. #NAFWB #BetterTogether

On the second Sunday while I was still in recovery from my operation, Dr. Michael Cloer, the Mission Strategist for the Cape Fear Network of Baptist Churches preached for us. This is an important message for all Christians examining the question: "What is the greatest thing you can do?" From Mark 2:1-12

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Today on the Almanac, we look at the story behind one of America's preeminent Baptist Churches. #OTD #1517 #churchhistory — SHOW NOTES are available: https://www.1517.org/podcasts/the-christian-history-almanac GIVE BACK: Support the work of 1517 today CONTACT: CHA@1517.org SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Overcast Google Play FOLLOW US: Facebook Twitter Audio production by Christopher Gillespie (gillespie.media).

Missionary Thomas Irvin: My Personal TestimonyBIMI Missionary to the country of Uganda, Africa.This testimony was given at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Carthage, Tennessee.For when we were yet without strength…My testimony stands out due to its abnormality. I grew up in and around Memphis, TN. I was consistently inconsistent concerning church attendance and spiritual matters. Fortunately, when we did attend church we visited gospel preaching Baptist Churches. Therefore, I grew up knowing the gospel, though I did not trust Christ until I was twenty-nine. With this brief introduction allow me to take you through thirty-seven years of personal history.Unshackled Testimony:https://unshackled.org/program/thomas-irvin-pt-1/https://unshackled.org/program/thomas-irvin-pt-2/Missionary Thomas Irvin

Bro. Scott Jones, from the Wisconsin Fellowship of Baptist Churches, preaches a message from 1 John 1 about the importance of fellowship.  

Particular Pilgrims is hosted by Ron Miller, Pastor of Covenant Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tennessee. This resource provides short stories from Particular Baptist history. Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing affordable online theological education to help the Church in its calling to train faithful men. To learn more about CBTS, visit https://CBTSeminary.org.

Particular Pilgrims is hosted by Ron Miller, Pastor of Covenant Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tennessee. This resource provides short stories from Particular Baptist history. Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing affordable online theological education to help the Church in its calling to train faithful men. To learn more about CBTS, visit https://CBTSeminary.org.

The first study from our new Sunday Night Bible Study Series "What We Believe and Why". If you are going to start a series on "What we Believe" it is probably good to answer the question, who is "we"? Since we are a Baptist church, we start by looking at some of the distinctives that Baptist Churches celebrate and what makes them different from other protestant faiths. We also discuss a little history and why we are called "Baptist". We will look into each of the 5 distinctives mentioned more in depth in the coming weeks. 

Welcome back to Troubled, a podcast by/for Survivors of Institutional Youth Abuse. THANK YOU for being here for the third season of our Independent self archival project. Two seasons bootlegged together over a cell phone, recorded in an old Prius wasn't too much for you? Well, masochism may pay off here as we embark on our most personal missions yet and play the cards we've held closest throughout the collective crucible of advocacy in a time of Covid. Super quick 31st birthday catch-up with Amanda Householder, who just filed a lawsuit against her parents, Boyd and Stephanie Householder, owners of Circle of Hope Girls Ranch AND their complicit and culpable cohorts - Agape Boarding School for Boys, Agape Baptist Church and Berean Baptist Church. We won't be getting into the nitty gritty of the details today, out of respect for Amanda, but we HIGHLY recommend you read the Kansas City Star Article "I was born into this." Daughter of Missouri reform school sues parents over abuse" by Judy Thomas and Laura Bauer, two rare gems of journalistic integrity. It is incredibly difficult to find ethical media allies of this caliber and we would just like to thank these women for how they have treated Survivors of Institutional Abuse throughout the last year of consistent coverage in Missouri. We wish they weren't an exception, but we are infinitely grateful they're both committed to exposing this crime against humanity as it plays out in their backyards. Forgive us our ADHD and self-defense, in this and every episode. We look forward to exploring the specific traumas of ourselves and our peers who were forever altered relationally by peer-on-peer attack therapy, but we'll also briefly address it in this update. We hope that Survivors will see other Survivors making moves and taking names as invitations or challenges to do so themselves. We hope that you will join us on the frontlines at every fork in the road. We also understand that for a historically invalidated community, and collectively gaslit community, that it can be triggering to see the mic passed to the next advocate. Often we can feel as if we are being spoken for, or over, or disregarded entirely. But every opportunity for a Survivor to speak, is an opportunity for Survivors to be heard. If we believe that we are stronger together, then we cannot continue to allow our community to reenact our trauma. MANY Survivors are neurodiverse, many of us experience RSD (Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria) - especially since it's the most common symptom of ADHD. Even if we don't have RSD dialing up the perception of rejection, we HAVE been abandoned, excluded, silenced, and otherwise pariah-ed to the point where you don't even need 'confirmation bias' to perceive the world as wholly unsafe, as well as the people in it. I dig it. I'm living in this world with you. PLEASE let us be aware of how we deflect and project ourselves onto the world around us. We cannot move towards an exclusionary policy as we curate our collective movement. Please join us in advocating for youth rights to liberate all kids in cages, from the border, through foster care, to the ToughLove so-called Troubled Teen Industry. Until next time, #iseeyousurvivor and THANK YOU to all of our allies --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/troubled/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/troubled/support

Dave Ramsey a church member and Director of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland was sharing from the book of Psalms today. The post Psalm 19 appeared first on Carrickfergus Baptist Church.

This weeks guest is Peter Leveson, the minister of South Norwood Baptist Church, in South London, where he has served for the last 11 years.  Prior to that he worked with Baptist Churches all over London, as part of the London Baptist Association team. He is a musician,  and creative thinker, who thrives in helping people and churches grow in faith.    In this episode we reflect on the fact that there is a time and season for every situation.Links: https://www.southnorwoodbaptist.orgdebbiewilliamspodcast.comSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DebbieWilliams)

In our series we have noted that the name designated to the Lord's churches was that of -Ana-Baptist-. Soon the prefix -Ana- was dropped and they were merely known as -Baptist-. However, not all -Baptist- Churches are the Lord's. Pastor Hille expounds on this subject in this message.

Pete Kaliner continues to talk about the faux outrage over NC Lt. Governor Mark Robinson's anti-LGBTQ comments in a Baptist church in June.  Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/petekalinershow See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jordan and Brandon talk with Geoff Chang about Charles Spurgeon's ecclesiology. They cover topics like how engaged was Spurgeon in the membership process? Did Spurgeon use the 2LBCF for new members or members? How did Spurgeon set the conditions for baptism and the table? How did Spurgeon maintain church discipline? Did the Metropolitan Tabernacle have congregational members' meetings? How did those operate? Did the Metropolitan Tabernacle have both elders and deacons? How did they function? What were Spurgeon's thoughts on associationalism among Baptist Churches? And more.Find more info about the London Lyceum or contact us at our website.Resources:1) Lectures to My Students, Charles Spurgeon2) An All-Round Ministry, Charles Spurgeon3) Soul-Winner, Charles Spurgeon4) Lost Sermons of Spurgeon, Charles SpurgeonSupport the show

Text: Luke 11:24-26 Series: “The Church Your New Pastor Deserves” Several years ago, Harvard Medical School psychologist Steven Berglas wrote a book, The Success Syndrome, that rocked the world of “ladder climbers” everywhere, those whose purpose in life is to pursue success at all costs. Bergals's thesis was that success, at least as our world defines it, is a two-edged sword, a burden as much as it is a blessing because of how people who are deemed successful often locate their worth in something that can never be satisfied. In other words, once you get to the top, how do you stay there? How do you ensure you remain a success? I think you see his point. So, as a physician, what did Berglas prescribe for those who were infected with such a malady? “What's missing in these people,” he said, “is a deep commitment or religious activity that goes beyond just writing a check to charity.” In other words, true success doesn't hinge on something natural or man-made. It instead hinges on something supernatural, something that comes from a place that prestige or power or possessions cannot define. That's a lesson that Jesus wanted the multitudes to see as he gave himself to the task of bringing to bear the supernatural power of God's Kingdom upon the evil he encountered in this world. In the 11th chapter of Luke's Gospel, Jesus has just driven out a demon from a man incapable of speech. But as the man starts talking, Luke tells us that the crowd who had witnessed this miracle are amazed and also perplexed. Seeking for an explanation of such a miracle, they assume that Jesus has driven out the demon by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. It never dawned on them that Jesus might have driven out the demon by the power of God. So, Jesus corrects their misunderstanding by pointing them to the real truth of the miracle they had just witnessed, which is that evil spirits can only wreak havoc when they find a soul that is not occupied by the Spirit of God. As he did on so many occasions, Jesus makes this point with a parable. “When an impure (or unclean) spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places (waterless places) seeking rest and does not find it. So, what does it do? It decides to the return to the place it left, and when it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order.” In other words, from outward appearances, everything about the soul to which this evil spirit returns appears normal. But those appearances are deceiving, Jesus tells us. Because though the house is swept clean and put in order, it is still unoccupied. There is space for the demon to return; and not only for the demon to return by itself, there is also room for seven other spirits more wicked than the first. And when they all go in to occupy that vacant space, the final condition of that person is worse than the first. So, what does this parable mean, and, more importantly, how do we apply its meaning to our life? Here is one suggestion. You've heard the expression, “Nature abhors a vacuum?” That phrase was first coined by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who in his exploration of life came to discover that unfilled spaces go against the laws of nature and demand to be filled with something. What Jesus calls us to understand is that it's not just nature that abhors a vacuum; so does the human soul. Our souls are always filled with good or bad. The choice is ours, and if we do not decide to choose a good spirit, God's Spirit, then the choice will be made for us, and evil will hold sway in our souls. So, how much space does Jesus occupy in your soul, and what assurance do you have that any success you enjoy in your life is because of what he does through you and not so much what you are able to accomplish by yourself? Those two questions are intricately intertwined; otherwise, we become vulnerable to “success syndrome” and in an effort to fill the void that such a syndrome creates, unless we allow Jesus to fill it, we become tempted to fill it with other things, some of which are blatantly evil, though we may not recognize it in the moment. This truth holds not just for individuals; it also holds for churches. Over the course of these years that I have been with you, I have said on numerous occasions that God's call to this church is not so much that we be successful as it is that we be faithful. That's actually God's call to every church, but perhaps even more to this one. You look at the history of Mountain Brook Baptist Church and it is indeed marked by one success after another. We've reached scores of people for the cause of Christ. We've started other churches that in turn have done the same. We've supported missions causes around the world, and at times we have supported them when others had abandoned those very causes. We've built buildings. We've raised lots of money. By the world's standards, we've enjoyed one success after another. But what has fueled this church's success in days past is not our talent or our intelligence or our affluence or our ingenuity. What has made us the exemplary church that we are and have been for these 77 years is our dependence upon God's Holy Spirit and our willingness to be filled and led by it. Think about it this way. What would happen to Mountain Brook Baptist Church if the Spirit of God were taken away from us? That's a sobering thought, is it not, one that you might think an impossibility. And yet, there is that haunting passage in the book of Revelation, where the Spirit says to the church at Ephesus, which we know from other places in the New Testament was by all appearances a successful church: “I know your deeds, your hard work, and your perseverance…. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love…. Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place” (Rev. 2:1-5). So, what would happen if the Spirit of God were taken from us and our lampstand were removed? I remember something I heard one preacher say in response to that question. “(A church) could stay alive for a number of weeks, even for a number of months. If it has personality and a lot of talent and a good bit of money and some projects and a few parties, a dead church can go on for weeks, delaying the inevitable obituary. (But) it is the prayer of the church, ‘Do not take away your Holy Spirit,' that makes us the church” we want to be and, more importantly, the church Jesus needs us to be (Barbara Brown Taylor, The Cherry Log Sermons). Such is my prayer for this church and going forward, I invite you to make it your prayer as well. Then we will remain faithful and God's Spirit will do in us and through us things we never dreamed were possible. A quick story. During my freshman year at Montevallo, I found my way to the Baptist Student Union, a ministry to college students supported by Cooperative Program funds from local Baptist Churches. The BSU had to meet at the college's Student Union Building because of how in the previous year the group had been dismissed from the local church that had housed it for many years. Why was the group dismissed? An African student had come to a BSU Sunday night fellowship at the church, one who as a boy had come to faith in Christ through the ministry of Southern Baptist missionaries in his country. Yet when church leaders heard that a black person was at BSU, they changed the locks on the doors the next morning and the group had to find a new home. Things like that happened in the 1970s and I'm pleased to report that the church repented of that sin and has since been more sensitive to the needs of all persons created in God's image. But as you would understand, that experience left a mark on those college students who had been dismissed so that by the time I arrived the next year, the pain was still palpable. So, what did those students do? They endeavored to soothe that pain by invoking the presence of God's Holy Spirit. Every time we would prepare to be dismissed, we would circle up and hold hands and sing that song penned by the Black songwriter, Doris Akers, which came from her own need through worship in her church to find God's peace and strength in the face of life's trials and tribulations. You know the song, “There's a Sweet, Sweet Spirit.” As I recall, it even made it into the 1991 edition of the Baptist Hymnal. “There's a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place, and I know that it's the Spirit of the Lord.” And how does that song end? “Without a doubt we'll know that we have been revived when we shall leave this place.” My prayer is that will always be so with Mountain Brook Baptist Church, regardless of the gathering. For then there will no place for evil spirits to find room in our souls. Our souls will instead be filled with the Spirit, which will ultimately lead to the only successes that in God's eyes really matter. Luke 11:24-26

Melinda returns to share a sermon she preached at Clovercrest Baptist. Beginning with a poem she wrote, Melinda then teaches on the Old Testament prophets and the poetry they shared, inviting us to imagine the new world that God is even now working towards. Rev Dr Melinda Cousins is our Director of Ministries, holds a PhD in the Psalms, and interestingly, listens to most podcasts on 1.5x speed. Next Wednesday we'll be back with another guest, so make sure you've subscribed and stay tuned for more Movement! CREDITS Host: Elliot Keane Guest: Melinda Cousins, Director of Ministries, Baptist Churches of SA Producer: Benito Carbone CONTACT US Subscribe for email notifications here Is there someone you'd love to hear on the podcast? Send us an email at bcarbone@sabaptist.asn.au

A pastor, a doctor, a former lecturer at Tabor and State Director at Global Interaction, Rev Dr Melinda Cousins has dipped her toe in a number of roles. In this episode, our new Director of Ministries jumps in the hot seat to talk about her journey, what drives her, and blazing a trail for others to follow. CREDITS Host: Elliot Keane Guest: Melinda Cousins, Baptist Churches of SA. Producer: Benito Carbone Subscribe for email notifications here Is there someone you'd love to hear on the podcast? Send us an email at bcarbone@sabaptist.asn.au

It's back! The weekly podcast from the Baptist Churches of South Australia where we can listen and imagine together. Each fortnight we interview a familiar face from our Baptist community, and then ask them to share one of their favourite sermons with us the following week. Returning in September, join Melinda Cousins and the team as we hear from our Movement.

Pastor Newms: [0:00] Intro video. Pastor Bill: [0:04] Yay. Pastor Newms: [0:06] Intro video. How was the level of the intro video did it need to come down at all? Was it good? Pastor Bill: [0:14] It was good no they were just right yeah.   Pastor Newms: alright good good.   Pastor Bill: That you could hear the you could hear that well I don't know I thought maybe the music was a little low, maybe could have turned the music up a little bit but the volume of the of the talking was. Pastor Newms: [0:32] Well yeah it's the same volume as normal.   Pastor Bill What was the number of this episode?   Pastor Newms: I don't remember I've lost track it. Pastor Bill: [0:58] I'll go look at the titles. Pastor Newms: [1:02] I turn this computer on when I texted you earlier so. Um, I ain't got nothing going nothing. I haven't created the folder for today nice why did you type that okay. Pastor Bill: [1:23] Mirand on Facebook beat me to it. It's in some of the season and episode number. Hey Biggs, Biggs on Twitch we're doing a thing we're we yeah we talked during the five minute countdown now so you should be able to hear us it was my chatter we're going to chat. Pastor Newms: [1:51] I'll give you some chatter cheddar sea. Pastor Bill: [1:57] Yeah HPuffPhoenix says. Pastor Newms: [2:02] Are we staying up super late tonight and watching things or are you going to be are you going to be watching. Pastor Bill: [2:10] It's Father's Day. Pastor Newms: [2:11] Or are you going to be watching things with your wife. Pastor Bill: [2:14] I'm probably going to be spending time with my wife since it's father's day. Pastor Newms: [2:25] But it's the first episode of season 5 aha. Haha yeah we all came home and crashed like hardcore. There's a come with your deep theological questions Bring It On. [2:51] Push down with the beds been calling she has already been in the bed that was calling her name she slept on the way down here mmm mmm. Pastor Bill: [3:03] Okay so like I was saying before we started the countdown this game terragenesis game. My temperature is still too hot I'm trying to get my temperature down to terraforming the Moon, and that's creating more water or but I still need to get my temperature down more but then I've got too much water just crazy and then, the game got complicated it was supposed to be a I can just leave it running while I go do other stuff but then all of the little plants that I created on the planet all died off every time I walked away, so I gotta pause the game when I walk away now or the whole planet dies. Pastor Newms: [3:47] Hello the best 13:17 appears to be one of my cousins. Pastor Bill: [3:55] The best 1317 like Macallan 1317. [4:03] McCallum it's the it's a scotch. [4:20] I collect useless details in my brain. Pastor Newms: [4:22] Forty seconds by the way. Pastor Bill: [4:25] 40 second buffer.   Pastor Newms: No, we're not doing that.   Pastor Bill: [4:54] Um maybe it's your cousin Matt do you have a cousin Matt? Pastor Newms: [5:00] Have to cousin mats oh yeah that's my cousin Matt Okay there I push the right button. Pastor Bill: [5:12] Hello and welcome to season 3 episode 33 of The Berean Manifesto. Tonight we are hanging out, we're answering questions we are getting into deep theological discussions Maybe. Pastor Newms: [5:28] About book. Pastor Bill: [5:30] If that happens that comes up it may not, um it's Father's Day Newms is a father I'm a father we're kind of taking it easy Newms had a family reunion this week and I, set up my lovely workspace with my new desk and my new shelves that my wife got me for my Father's Day present and I redid my rug so it's not all you know hanging loose. Pastor Newms: [5:53] And you hung the free hugs where everyone can actually see him that's the T-shirt he wears. Pastor Bill: [5:58] And I hug my. Pastor Newms: [5:59] When we do ministry. Pastor Bill: [6:00] Sure yeah this is a t-shirt we've been wearing we do ministry we're going to design a new one for the next the next Pride that we actually have, um because that's two prior as in a row that they canceled, and so yeah this is a shirt I cut up my shirt and mounted it on a canvas and hung it and then I don't know if you can see this. This is our determination letter from the IRS, that makes our church a church in the eyes of the government. Pastor Newms: [6:32] Yeah it was fun the family reunions was real good, it's enjoyable soft family some we like some we don't like families family who knows, it was very interesting some of the conversations I had oh excuse me, I don't know is the Dallas Pride canceled Biggs is asking. Pastor Bill: [6:57] Dallas pride is cancelled what they're doing instead is you're just having a concert, One concert where everyone will be social distancing and wearing masks and that's all they're doing. There's no vendors there's no you know any opportunity for any of that and then hopefully next year we'll be able to have a face to face Pride event where we can go out and spread the love of God and let people know that we love them. Pastor Newms: [7:38] Unless you come to Nashville in September. Pastor Bill: [7:43] Is Nashville having their Pride in September? Well I mean you didn't send me any information so we wouldn't have a booth but. Pastor Newms: [7:53] We could still go. Pastor Bill: [7:54] You could you can send me information and we can get a booth probably still. Pastor Newms: [7:59] I'm not sure how we would work a booth because we can't you have to bring everything and that be really complicated. Pastor Bill: [8:06] Well I'm sure you have an Academy there and we can just go get a 10 by 10 foot you know there's like a hundred bucks for one of those so. Pastor Newms: [8:17] H puff Phoenix will be sending you all the pride. Pastor Bill: [8:21] HPuffPhoenix is going to send me the. Pastor Newms: [8:23] Because whether you come or not I'm going so, it's really either way you really should probably send me some cards I'm gonna need some of those either way, I'm going. Pastor Bill: [8:45] It wouldn't be a bad idea I mean that's one of the things that's in you know my heart and it's in the heart of this ministry to reach out and it started with um the Holy Spirit really bring to my attention to the suicide numbers for that demographic and it really just kind of blossomed from there my earlier in life I was I was I was I was homophobic for sure. Pastor Newms: [9:23] Uh-huh. Pastor Bill: [9:25] Didn't want to be in Ministry to that community that that demographic didn't have anything to do with it. Pastor Newms: [9:32] Several demographics actually but that one also. Pastor Bill: [9:36] And then as time got has gone by the Lord's worked on my heart and and you know and I've gone through this transformation in knowing you know that the Lord wants me to be doing Ministry in this area and so that's what we've done. We've reached out and we've made ourselves available and gone to Pride twice in Dallas and done Ministry because I mean we walk what we talked and we preach love and so we love. Pastor Newms: [10:11] Some of us better than others. Pastor Bill: [10:15] Does it hurt you as much as it does me that people post videos about Christians being anti LGBT or sermons where they preach just stupid stuff about being anti LGBT and in the like the number one comment is a no hate like Christian love, does that bug you as much as it bugs me. Pastor Newms: [10:42] Um yes. Pastor Bill: [10:42] Because I'm like that's not that's not love and I and it hurts my heart that you've been hurt by Christians who claim to love it just hurts me so much. Pastor Newms: [10:54] And that's the big thing about it it's not necessarily just the fact of these people are so stupid it's the fact that the commenters have been so hurt we have sadly we've sadly. Pastor Bill: [11:07] That's what hurts me is that they have a right to say that. Pastor Newms: [11:16] I did not see real Christians forgive like Jesus billboard but that's a good one yeah like Heather said. Pastor Bill: [11:24] Phoenix see ya. Pastor Newms: [11:26] Like HPuffPheonix said. Pastor Bill: [11:29] She's had her own experiences in this area lately and so she can relate to that comment and that's what honestly irks me is that is a, completely Justified comment and I'm like I I I want to hug you and I want to let you know that, we're not all like that some of us actually love and aren't hung up on, our own deficiencies too much to see past our theology, to actually love you and to question my theology actually accurately biblical, or have I learned things out of context and need to put them back into Biblical context. Pastor Newms: [12:16] Yeah and that's a big one a big one is so many people and they don't look at the aspect of the Berean lifestyle you know as Paul teaches you know be like the Bereans because they actually, tested what they heard and took it back to the Bible and if it didn't line up with the Bible they say okay that's not right. Pastor Bill: [12:41] Let's be honest he didn't say Bible he said scriptures. Pastor Newms: [12:44] Well yes he said. Pastor Bill: [12:46] Where I want to I don't want to drop in some confusion and anyone that might be listening to this and go wait Paul said Bible also the word bible. Pastor Newms: [12:55] That'd be really weird. Pastor Bill: [12:57] It would be really weird. Pastor Newms: [12:58] Since it didn't exist yet yeah and it's an English word so be really really weird. Pastor Bill: [13:06] It would be really really weird yeah. Pastor Newms: [13:09] No actually we're what is the root of Bible. Pastor Bill: [13:13] It's a biblio of it's a Latin word. Pastor Newms: [13:18] So it's Latin okay. Pastor Bill: [13:20] It's a Latin word that did you literally just means book pretty much but in this case we would we would say the book. [13:33] You looking it up you googling it the etymology of the word bible always agree. Pastor Newms: [13:35] Yeah it's actually it is from it is from Greek meaning the books. Pastor Bill: [13:42] Books plural gotcha. Pastor Newms: [13:45] It had the literal meaning of scroll so. Pastor Bill: [14:01] Bigle did you mean Bible b.i.b.l.e. Pastor Newms: [14:06] Yes that's the book for me I Stand Alone. [14:16] First you're going to tear the pages because they're always leather and you're going to. Pastor Bill: [14:20] Yeah you shouldn't be standing on books that's not good for books. Pastor Newms: [14:23] Now there's something that I always have an issue with I love books, anyone who knows me very well knows I love books I have boxes of books in the house right now because I still haven't built all of the bookshelves necessary to hold everything in this house so. Um so I always struggle with that when people are like, I don't write in my Bible and I'm I always go and not because there's anything it's not like the Bible special you shouldn't write in it that's not the reason it's just like why did you write the book you know I have workbook. Pastor Bill: [15:24] So are sacrificing there. Pastor Newms: [15:27] II have workbooks. Pastor Bill: [15:29] Books. Pastor Newms: [15:30] Yeah I have I have work I have work books that have sheets, of paper in them because certain workbooks I was like this isn't feel like a workbook so I'm not writing in it I've gotten over. Pastor Bill: [15:46] Did you do with the Divine Easter devotional that I made that one year did you not right in that. [15:56] Really okay. Pastor Newms: [15:56] It's on a bookshelf now there are some books I have written in over the years some I don't really have a problem with and I don't really know why, but some just don't feel like they should be written in if the pages don't feel right I won't write in it. Pastor Bill: [16:21] Mmm I definitely write in my Bible I'll write any book I don't care but mainly my Bible I write when in when I read something and I feel like, I've received Holy Spirit and inspiration you know I'll write it in the margin, and then if I come back across that, and I'm like oh I felt like this before if I feel like well that was definitely my ego that was definitely pride those I'm gonna flush whatever I'll mark it out. My spirits still confirms that that's accurate then I'll leave it and that's you know that's one of the things that I do and I mean you can look at my this is a Bible I use most often you can't really you don't really see much because that doesn't happen all the time it happens you know infrequently but it does have. Pastor Newms: [17:18] Yeah I've got notebooks just tons of notebooks. Pastor Bill: [17:22] The one Bible I won't write in, is my copy of the Geneva Bible the 1599 Geneva Bible the version that the pilgrims brought with them on the Mayflower I'll highlight in this Bible, but I don't write in this Bible and I love this translation because it isn't, influenced by the King James and it's translation this was translated before the King James was and the King James translation was written was was, what kicked off The King James translation party as it were was that King James was upset that people were using this Bible, instead of something that he had signed off on, and so that that was the final straw and why he started having his own bible translated, and so I love this translation I don't read from it all the time but I do reference it if I find a discrepancy, between the King James and my CSB and then my going back to the Greek or the Hebrew doesn't Define it well enough for me. [18:47] I'll reference my Geneva to see, you know what am I talking about what am I looking at what was King James the King of King James was the King of England. Pastor Newms: [18:59] Which would the Church of England also makes him the head of the church correct. Pastor Bill: [19:05] Right which is a completely different issue he founded the Church of England before he, started his translation work, because he was upset at the Catholic church for overriding his, his laws and his authority and, and the church was like well we have the authority of God because we're the church and he was like but I have the authority of God because I'm the king and they were like Well church Trump's King and he was like okay, I'll just declare myself the Church of England and me the head of the church and so now I'm the church. Pastor Newms: [19:50] James became king of Scotland in. Pastor Bill: [20:00] You know what maybe was Henry that made the king of the Church of England Biggs said he thought that. Pastor Newms: [20:05] Yeah I think it's Henry that did the. [20:15] James was the King of Scotland from 1567 to 1625 and the King of England England from 1603 to 1625. Pastor Bill: [20:26] Hey I think you're right I think it was Henry I think my brain lumped it into James but that's not right it is Henry but brains are like that memory is like that sometime. Pastor Newms: [20:41] The Church of England was founded in 1534 definitely before. Pastor Bill: [20:46] So definitely not James. It was more than Biggs says because he could not divorce his wife and a lot of historians paint it that way but that was literally only about this much of it that wasn't the whole story. Pastor Newms: [21:03] Henry the 8th in 1534 and of course this says because of his annulment to, so then he. Then pulled it to the Church of England. Pastor Bill: [21:29] Henry took a lot of women's heads, one of his wives he beheaded her because she gave birth to a daughter instead of a son, I'm like, give her another chance bro. Pastor Newms: [21:50] King James started the project in 1604 and the first trip the first published was of course 1611. Pastor Bill: [22:00] And the Geneva Bible was published in 1599. Pastor Newms: [22:04] And it was just the new version would help consolidate political power is what historians believe. Pastor Bill: [22:12] Now granted, the Geneva Bible was not in the language that it is in right now and neither was the King James Bible but both the King James Bible and the Geneva Bible were written in old English and if you want to know what old English looks like because it's really hard to find a copy of the Bible in Old English, go look for a copy of the Canterbury Tales in Old English and that'll give you an idea of what English was like in the time of King James. Pastor Newms: [22:48] I've seen some you know in museums and stuff copies of it and they'll have it open and it's it's to me especially being dyslexic it's unreadable. Pastor Bill: [23:00] It is it is it is unreadable it really is. [23:12] It's pretty close like the word Jesus isn't pronounced Jesus it's EOsus and it's spelled Ioesus, um in English that's English, now we call it Old English because since then we've replaced all the English with the queen's English which is what, modern King James bibles are translated into and what The Geneva Bible is translated into is the queen's English and then from there we got English which does what, British people speak right now which is a slang version of the queen's English and we have American English which is. Pastor Newms: [24:03] It's a language we'll leave it at that. Pastor Bill: [24:04] Melting Pot language it's just a bunch of languages that we pulled everything together and borrowed from to make a whole different version of English. Pastor Newms: [24:14] It's a something is what it is. Pastor Bill: [24:16] But Phoenix says Canterbury Tales gives me British literature Nightmares From culinary, I agree Canterbury Tales in the original language will get anyone nightmares when you hear it spoken especially it is, terrifying Old English is it's terrifying to here, at least for me. Pastor Newms: [24:46] It doesn't it messes with your brain because it's close but not there so it feels like an alien trying to speak your language. Pastor Bill: [24:57] Well it almost feels like Roman and German and English just like imploaded into each other. Pastor Newms: [25:07] I mean that's basically what happened. Pastor Bill: [25:12] That's what happened but it actually sounds like it, when you're when you're speaking American English in your borrowing words from you know Latin and  Spanish and German you don't actively understand that but when you hear Old English, and you know and you know you know enough of these Roman and Germanic and languages and you can actually feel you know. It's this it's crazy it's this mishmash of insanity. Pastor Newms: [25:44] It's a little weird yeah I will. Pastor Bill: [25:48] All right so we may be, not having an official night but we're still going to know do Get To Know The Pastor's so come back we'll get everybody involved not just you and me we get everybody in the check ball two. Pastor Newms: [26:06] I can't go any farther from when I baby sat Liby the cages is still in my office so this is as far as I can escape. Pastor Bill: [26:17] You did. Pastor Newms: [26:18] I can only Escape I didn't think it through and then when I got there I went. Pastor Bill: [26:27] Okay you ready what's the worst job you've ever had. Pastor Newms: [26:36] Can I answer for you. Pastor Bill: [26:43] Um I've got to but yeah go ahead. Pastor Newms: [26:45] Walmart specifically in that little Podunk town that was terrible, where the store manager was completely insane and broke all the rules. Yeah thank you HPuffPhoenix that's a good point Libby is a dog I should clarify that. Pastor Bill: [27:14] We have a cage when we were babysitting. Pastor Newms: [27:18] Thank you H Puff Phoenix. Pastor Bill: [27:22] I didn't even think about it that yeah think about it. Pastor Newms: [27:28] I don't have any people that would be in cages running around I don't want to try to explain since we have young ones here what any of those terms might be I would love I would love for you to have to explain that later though if I used any other terms. Pastor Bill: [27:49] That would be interesting, okay so Biggs asks paid or unpaid job either just any job responsibilities that you have so let me you're right but let me before I say anything further about that, my experience with this employer WalMart was my personal and shouldn't be taken as any reflection of judgment or claims, against the largest employer in the world who can sue my butt off for ages. Pastor Newms: [28:31] No and because. Pastor Bill: [28:32] It should have no reflection on the corporation. Pastor Newms: [28:34] And what's crazy about that I will say is he still talking but we can't hear him sorry we'll give him a second to come back are you back now, you did you left right about here. Pastor Bill: [28:52] Let me make sure I'm not on the Wi-Fi, I'm not. Pastor Newms: [29:00] So for me Walmart wasn't my worst job I loved it was great, and so when you tried to get a job there you were like oh this is going to be good and I'm like that's why I said for a bad store manager because I worked for a store managers that was awesome. Pastor Bill: [29:22] By the time I was coming to the end of my term at Walmart it was so bad, that I literally would walk in the front door and become so nauseated the first thing I would do before I clocked in was go throw up. And then I would go clock in, it was that it was really, really bad, and it wasn't so much the customers the customers, I mean they were just normal customers they have needs yeah they're not the brightest sometimes because they'd be like hey help me find, but yeah like you said having a store manager that did everything wrong I mean he would literally come around the store with his little cart pushing his car man and give us a notes on things that needed to be done. [30:32] And you do the things on your notes and then he follow up after lunch and spend 10 minutes swearing at you. Because you did the thing that he told you to do on your note and now he's saying that's wrong you should never do that, we don't do that here and I'm like. I literally just did what's in your the note that you gave me this morning I can literally word for word what you wrote in your notes, so that was my Walmart experience and then number two for me was once again not reflective on the whole Corporation but McDonald's. [31:18] I worked at McDonald's for 3 days I worked flipping burgers for three days, and by that I mean. [31:30] I'm standing there and they want me to flip burgers that are on a surface that I could Bend like this to get to, and I'm bending down this freezer pull out meat to put on this thing and then push this button and it goes down which is supposed to fully cook them, or at least cook them most of the way and then you're supposed to transfer the heating trays but ours didn't quite work right, so after I push the button and it went down once then I had to flip them literally flip them and press the button again, cook them again and then put them in the trays and ever so often I would have to do it a third time, because you literally they were literally still pink, um like uh not even fully thawed yet pink and hard still after two times of using the, heated press and on the third day when my shift manager came over and wanted to have the conversation about, you know you're a great employee and in 6 months I want to get you into the management training program and you could make up to nine dollars an hour. [32:49] That was the last straw that was my okay my back hurts constantly I'm burned all over my arms from this this thing, you're talking about a future where I can look forward to maxing out at nine dollars an hour I'm done. Pastor Newms: [33:06] So I've been sitting here trying to think. I've had jobs that had bad situations but no bad jobs overall jobs that turned into bad, but I'd probably have to say it was working for the prison software that was probably the worst just. Pastor Bill: [33:46] It wasn't calling Baptist Churches to try to get them to send their kids to an Acquire The Fire. Pastor Newms: [33:54] No I don't think it was because the job wasn't bad the people were just really really rude to someone who believed the same thing they did mostly, so now I don't think that was the job but the, just the actual but that job was bad because of the it started off being a little bit of micromanagement and I was like okay I'm new cool and then after, what was it for years it never changed and so at a certain point it was like okay I'm done, and so I moved to Tennessee um so yeah. Pastor Bill: [34:42] Zadie says but that wasn't a job is she talking about you or she's talking about what I said about your ministry assignment. Pastor Newms: [34:49] What you said because it was yeah she's saying what you said because it was a. Pastor Bill: [34:56] No it was definitely a job. [35:05] All right so Biggs on Twitch says washing big electric cabinets with powerwash spraying acid, that sounds terrifying. Pastor Newms: [35:20] How old were you at that point Biggs? Like would that even be legal at this point the kind of acid wash they used back then because I know it was like the 1500 s. Pastor Bill: [35:34] The fifteen hundreds, Biggs was 18. Pastor Newms: [35:38] Yeah 18 so that was 1392 so I mean it yeah I can see that. Pastor Bill: [35:45] Biggs is not older than the United States of America come on man. Pastor Newms: [35:54] No but some of his family members might be. Pastor Bill: [35:58] Oh You would know you were just spending time with them. Pastor Newms: [36:03] And by the way just in case you're wondering the Matt that is joining us the best, he's in the good part and actually only lives about you know a little ways away from here so it's good cuz, we're going to start a oh he's being mean now. Pastor Bill: [36:32] He is being mean he calling you old. Pastor Newms: [36:34] Cuz that means that is true I was born when he was 20 supposedly but I don't know if vampires when they have children they age in the same way. Pastor Bill: [36:43] Twenty hundred Maybe. Pastor Newms: [36:44] Maybe. So and then HPuffPhoenix said the same thing you said but for a different reason she said McDonald's because of the customers because she wrote wrote, sheep was. Can I try that one again we'll just cut that out and post that we don't do, it'll do any post but post know we're live we're not playing this game. Pastor Bill: [37:30] This is a live man. Pastor Newms: [37:31] Oh yeah I forgot, she worked the drive-thru most of the time so she mm yeah. Pastor Bill: [37:46] Now on the opposite side what about good jobs like what's the best job. Is it really. Pastor Newms: [38:04] For me it is because and here's the reason why all of my jobs have ended really really weirdly, except for Walmart actually Walmart ended because I transitioned out to focus on school, but all of them, ended because I chose to because of the situations except for one and, and that one, is just real, bad situation from beginning to end but I enjoyed the work, so I that one I don't even think I could begin to answer I love the company I am currently working for because what they do is awesome, Heather sorry HPuffPhoenix said in her message where she currently works I can't it's names are hard for me. Pastor Bill: [39:09] Yeah so when I hear when I hear HPuff or read heads pathetic say that and hear you say that I'm like looking for a raise huh. Pastor Newms: [39:19] No my eval already. Pastor Bill: [39:20] Get now is the best job I've ever had. Pastor Newms: [39:23] No my evals already come through and sadly it was really it'll cause, the healthcare has gone through a rough time with covid let's just um when your main when your main basis is elective care surgeries and then, elective care surgeries I'll get cancelled for almost a year. Pastor Bill: [39:47] Yeah. Pastor Newms: [39:48] But no the reason I like to company I currently work for is because they offer a payment program, and our medical system is so messed up we all need payment programs to actually pay for any of our services because none of us can ever afford actual Healthcare. Pastor Bill: [40:08] Yeah. Pastor Newms: [40:09] And it's at zero percent interest the patient doesn't get charged anything extra, the hospital doesn't get charged anything extra and it doesn't go on their anyone's credit score and I haven't been someone who went through bankruptcy because of medical bills, because of that but in Heather loves it because I saw Phoenix loves it because she, she can see Ellen insurance companies all day she's great at her job and it's really funny because she's really sweet, to the to the patients they'll if they get through to her that she should go well I'll head definitely take care of you everything's going to be fine let me put you on a brief hold give me just one moment and then like with like the people at the clinics it's like oh yes we'll definitely let me put you on a brief let me step by step by step but we just need to answer a couple but about that but you know super sweet and then she gets on with these insurance companies that aren't paying for medicine that these people need because they're going through kidney failure you know and it's like, yes but the temperature butter this is dated and then all of a sudden it's like well. [41:31] What you don't understand is and like you don't I don't know what she says ninety-nine percent of the time, because it's that attitude it's real sweet it's real calm it's really everything's fine everything's great and then you just hear from the other just the uptick and you're like insurance company said, and Heather Phoenix is protecting her patients so. Pastor Bill: [42:00] That's funny all right so for me I got to again, um and I'm going to tell you what the name you know the companies are but I'm in a preface this with, it wasn't about the companies for me and it wasn't about what the companies did for me, it was being in positions that challenged me and that kept my focus varied, and gave me the ability to multitask, you know I've got this project and I've got this project and I'm trying to balance the time and make sure it's all working and I've got metrics that I can plug things into and make sure it all balances and so for me, adding all of that to do where I'm not bored and I've got multi things going on so. [43:03] Um being the marketing director there I had to do I had to be cash here add to B marketing director I had to be team lead shift lead all that at the same time, so basically doing all of the running of the restaurant not actually being responsible for running the restaurant that was that was the actual, franchisees job she did a great job her and her husband they ran it great but I was there to do anything that they needed to do while they weren't there I could step in, and do that and so that was really fulfilling for me I really like that despite, how that ended where I was like you know I either need more money and less hours or I'm gonna have to start looking for a different job. [43:58] And that really poisoned the relationship I had with the franchise owner, she didn't take that in the spirit that I was intended she took that as an insult or as a leveraging technique which it really wasn't I was just being honest you know this is what's going on, and I'm going to have to look for a new job and if I find something I'll give you two weeks-notice once I find something and so everything was just weren't real downhill from there, so despite that ending you know and the other job, you know for all the same reasons that I listed was when I went back to work for Teen Mania after I left Gateway, or with separate from Gateway or however you want to say that I went back to work for Teen Mania and while that was a brief. [44:57] Time because that ship was already sinking, um it really you know did all those things multiple fires and had to juggle and you know all that stuff so, that that was that was what it was this for me. [45:28] Where do we go from here. Pastor Newms: [45:31] Well so. How was your week we haven't even done this part yet. Pastor Bill: [45:44] Oh man well I got my desks in. And then realize well I had enough space for the desks I didn't make enough space for me in my chair, so then I had to get a little creative and the way that I put in the desks. Pastor Newms: [46:07] I thought we I thought you measured that first. Pastor Bill: [46:10] I didn't measure me I measured the space and I was like well this gives me space to walk in and out. But I didn't consider the size of my chair and the size of me sitting in the chair and doing this and all of that so. Had to be arranged a little bit but I got to desks so I have a little shit going on and those are working great, and then I got these lovely shelves this week this is my Father's Day present from my wife I went on Amazon and I was like, you know sent her a list I said I like this and I like this and she was like those are only shelves and I was like yeah but they're two different kind of shelves you get to pick which one, so I opened that yesterday and put those up so I could you know put all my stuff on it and you can't see oh so fine. [47:14] Bottom shelf is knickknacks and then the next shelf is a cup few knickknacks and the, religious books that I reference from time to time one of them is the complete collections of Smith Wigglesworth, which I really like The Geneva Bible and the other one I don't really agree with everything that she teaches but it's the complete collections, Maria Woodworth Ettor, I like to reference it sometimes just to get an opposing Viewpoint you know it's not that she's unbiblical in her beliefs it's just that theological we don't always agree, and that's okay that's not a problem for me you know all that does is challenge me too. [48:09] To find you know what I actually believe and why I believe it which is good and then my third shelf, I've got I love this this is a 50th Anniversary Edition TARDIS Doctor Who Tardis that my wife got me used to be a bauble that made noise but um, Finnick made sure that it would never do that anymore and then I've got a couple of Doctor Who books from the time the time lord Victorious series that I still need to read but reading has become an issue for me lately and then I've got A Princess of Mars which is the beginning of Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom series, and then I've got At The Earths Core which is the beginning of Edgar Rice Burroughs. [49:03] Pelucidar series and then I've got the ever life shattering Lungbarrow, which is the Doctor Who book that came out in the 80s that redefined the canon of Doctor Who and forever shaped, Doctor Who lore and everything has built upon that since then even the new twists that they've released in Doctor Who in these recent seasons have been inspired by this novel, last I checked there were only a few copies of that left and the cheapest you could get one for was a hundred and seven dollars. Pastor Newms: [50:10] Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo ba he searches. Pastor Bill: [50:13] Cheapest you can get it in paperback right now is 200 dollars. Pastor Newms: [50:18] Nice. Pastor Bill: [50:21] So that that up there on top of my shelf and when I asked for it was one of those shoot for the moon you know quests and then my mom found one for like 20 bucks, and got it for me and I was like I didn't expect that to ever okay awesome. That will shoot for the my prayer request I had no idea. Pastor Newms: [50:55] I think you even cried a little. [51:02] I mean not to front you but I'm pretty sure you did so. Pastor Bill: [51:11] Definitely been a grams my mama she she's something else so. I'll show you the book as it looks like this. All right so that's what happened this week with me a lot of, labor and then I had to go through my filing cabinet and get rid of everything that I had you know. I have hoarder tendencies, so I went through my filing cabinet and threw away a 13 gallon trash bag worth of stuff from my filing cabinet and it's just a three drawer cabinet it's literally sitting underneath this desk right here and is only like 14 inches wide but it was stuffed to the brim with things and, is not important. Pastor Newms: [52:23] You have to you have to purge every now and then it is very important I learned that at a certain point in life and I don't like it, at all not even a little and I'm really really really really really really bad at it but my loving wife Zadie is much, better at it than I am and. Pastor Bill: [53:05] And what would they audit, I don't I don't have enough money to spend enough money to make an audit last more than a few minutes I don't even know what they would be auditing I'd be like, here you go here's all my bank statements for the year yes it's only 24 pages that is all the bank statements for the whole year, here you go. Pastor Newms: [53:32] It is true. Pastor Bill: [53:38] You just throw it all away well everything's digital now I mean you throw away receipts are all digital. Stores are like would you like a receipt and I'm like yeah I'm pretty sure my bank statements just going to tell me what you charged me so. Unless I'm buying it from some place I said I think I might need to return this at some point. Then I don't need your piece of tree you can just say that. Pastor Newms: [54:11] I like the email option and then it goes to my email and then I don't look at it ever and forget to clean that email out. Pastor Bill: [54:21] It bugs me when I go to Sam's and all I buy is like what's the word, consumables all I buy is consumables so it's not something I'm going to bring back and you get to the cash register and they're like would you like a printed receipt, or would you like it printed and emailed so either way I'm gonna have to take a receipt. Pastor Newms: [54:46] Well would you like me to tell you why. Pastor Bill: [54:50] I would like to explain yeah so many of these explain to me why they scan the receipt and a couple of your items at the door. Pastor Newms: [54:57] Oh no that that that's just for are you walking out with something, verification that's what I'm talking about I'm talking about the actual reason for certain receipting and how the receipting is done so the government actually dictates how receipts have to look and in what ways you can share them and depending on what you can buy, depends on how the receipt has to look so like places that sell, gift cards and things like that their receipts have to have specific language on them depending on the state and federal government and so because of that it's, certain states require a printed receipt so some companies just print the receipt every time because it's cheaper than trying to figure out are you a consumer from that state it's not a requirement based on where you're at it's a requirement based on where you are a current resident and so because of that it's very interesting. Pastor Bill: [56:10] Biggs is like or now. Pastor Newms: [56:13] You can thank two states for that but I'm not going to name them because they're mean. [56:22] And you can thank money launderers. Pastor Bill: [56:26] Juneteenth is a Federal holiday now. Pastor Newms: [56:30] Oh really. Pastor Bill: [56:32] Yeah it's Friday they voted on Thursday they officially voted to make Juneteenth a Federal holiday and then this year it was observed on Friday, you know celebrated Saturday, and so all federal buildings were closed on Friday all businesses that observe federal holidays were supposed to be closed on Friday, um and I thought you know I never want to be the white savior guy that's not who I am I'm an ally I'm a friend I will back you up you call the play, and I'll be there you know you say black lives matter and we need representation I'm the guy that goes you tell me what my responsibility is to back you up there I'm not the guy going around going, you know you're not representing them correctly that's not me I'm the Ally I meant you know you tell me what I'm supposed to be doing to back you up I'm there and I thought this was a good thing I thought you know finally the federal government is represent you know is Right is recognizing Juneteenth and if you don't know what Juneteenth is, it is the day that. [57:52] The slave owners in Texas officially received word, two years after the freeing of the slaves, um that, slavery was now illegal in the United States of America and had to let their slaves free and I said had to because that's actually how it went down, they were not willingly setting them free in Texas there were other states that, willingly Texas that was not a thing Texas they had to be forced so Juneteenth is this, this Landmark beginning of this march to equality some people say it's you know two years earlier when it started, saying you need to set all your slaves free is it isn't really the actual start it's the point, all of that is actually enforced is the word starts so to me Juneteenth is the beginning of that march to equality, but I've seen a lot of videos on Tic-Tok where like I said I'm an ally you tell me where to go and I've seen a lot of videos where a lot of people in the. What am I supposed to say now is it black or African-American or. Pastor Newms: [59:17] Just say community in that community. Pastor Bill: [59:20] Okay that Community are. Pastor Newms: [59:24] I'm not I'm not sure until I don't want to say it wrong let me let me be clear on why it's really depends on preference of the person you're talking. Pastor Bill: [59:30] Due respect, to who it's do we respectful they feel like it's pandering I've seen a lot of videos where they feel like this is just pandering and I get that I see their point of view, and if that's what we you know if that's the overwhelming consensus like I said I'm an ally I'll back you up, but I saw it as a recognition of the beginning of the March toward equality and so I was happy for it, so if somebody wants to email me if you're hearing that saying this somebody wants to email me and tell me how to support it and how to follow through or if I should just ignore it because like with the black history month thing for years I felt like that was pandering, I felt like. Pastor Newms: [1:00:22] Well there are some people go. Pastor Bill: [1:00:26] I felt like we need holidays all year long that celebrate Breck black history not cram everything into one month and go well this is everything that but you know it needs to be spread out over all year long all year long, we need to give recognition to the Pioneers that, made this country what it is that aren't white we should be doing that all year long it shouldn't be one month and then you know I shared a video on Tic-Tok of an interview that Morgan Freeman where he said the exact same thing and I was like that's how I felt about this for years. Pastor Newms: [1:01:07] Yeah. Pastor Bill: [1:01:09] And I'm an ally I'm not the white savior I'm not the. Pastor Newms: [1:01:12] We're not trying to do that you know. Pastor Bill: [1:01:13] I'm not going out there and trying to fix the world's ills for everybody else, and so when he said that I was like hey I can share that because I agree with that and now you know someone in this community is actually saying it so it's, the 19th is Biggs asks because the 18th the date for Juneteenth the 19th is but when federal holidays fall on a Saturday they are observed on a Friday when they fall on a Sunday they are observed on a Monday. Pastor Newms: [1:01:48] When I first heard about Juneteenth it made me sick, the fact that we did you know that and I say we I don't mean we as white people I don't mean we as you know Texas that I'm no longer. Pastor Bill: [1:02:08] Proud Texan I was ashamed. Pastor Newms: [1:02:11] I say we as Americans we as humans continued to do that always just makes me sick. Pastor Bill: [1:02:21] It makes me sick that we had slaves as Americans at all like the whole Spirit of founding America was freedom and then we literally did the opposite we won't we should have done, when the when the Spanish ship showed up full of slaves, we should have bought them and made them Freemen all in one motion,we should have bought them and sent the Spaniards away and said go get us you know, go buy more people that have already been put into slavery bring them back we'll buy them from you and will make them citizens that's what we should have done. Pastor Newms: [1:03:09] I will actually take it a step further because you're a nicer person than I am I wouldn't do it that way I would buy them all get them off the boat and then magically that boat would disappear. Pastor Bill: [1:03:21] But that doesn't help with everyone in Spain that's already in slavery. Pastor Newms: [1:03:27] I know the prop yeah and yeah there's a lot of there's a lot of gray area in in that whole situation. Pastor Bill: [1:03:38] The Spaniards were going to Africa, the African tribes were stealing people from other tribes and then selling them to the Spaniards, then the Spaniards were going back to Spain and putting them into the slave trade and then the people that were Commerce minded, we're buying up a bunch of slaves and then bringing them over to the colonies you know and selling them to the Americans. Pastor Newms: [1:04:10] It's just it's messed up how the whole situation human beings are terrible we live in a fallen world and human beings do terrible things other human beings every day and it's absolutely disgusting. Pastor Bill: [1:04:25] It is. Pastor Newms: [1:04:29] And I say that not as someone who's like (disingenuous) it's disgusting I can't believe anyone would ever do that because there was a time in my life where I did some pretty terrible things and so it's one of those things where it's like I feel, terrible for the terrible things I've done I was a bully at one point I was bullied I was you know I've been through lots of the different parts of the cycle, all terrible because we are terrible to each other for some, crazy reason that I've never fully understood. Pastor Bill: [1:05:05] And every year when we celebrate July 4th, and inevitably there's someone from that community that has issue with celebrating Freedom when as that freedom happened there were slaves. In this country that weren't set free at the same time I feel like that's valid and also not valid. Like yeah not everybody was free that's a problem and it was six, and it shouldn't have been taken time to fix it, it should have been fixed right away but I want us all out to celebrate that now we're free. Now but that's my personal feeling. Pastor Newms: [1:06:10] Well I mean we could definitely get into the wage slavery conversation but we will today because we're already. Pastor Bill: [1:06:19] Okay but that's not that's not. Pastor Newms: [1:06:20] I said we're not. Pastor Bill: [1:06:24] Whole class of people and injuring a whole other class of people a race of people rather. Pastor Newms: [1:06:32] Race I will agree with classes exactly what's going on. Pastor Bill: [1:06:36] Because exactly that's not a whole race of people and injuring a whole another race of people there are still problems. Pastor Newms: [1:06:41] Yes it is classism yes there are still problems. Pastor Bill: [1:06:46] I'm not going to argue against that there are still problems. [1:06:58] I'm an ally not a savior so alright so we're out of time for this episode for this night, so unless you have anything else you want to add or in clay in unless anyone else has anything they want to contribute on chat we'll go ahead and wrap this up, I cut my hand at some point this week just ever so slightly and I keep doing things that just like barely touch it and it makes it hurt. Yeah I don't know how I cut it. All right so now we're going to do the 30 second buffer because some of our streaming services require it before we hit the button otherwise it'll cut off what we're saying now so, I'll sing a little song, 30 second buffer 30 second buffer 30 second buffer has it been 30 seconds yet of course not that's not how time works 30 second buffer 30 second buffer 30 second buffer, that's enough singing now we love you guys have a great week you say your thing now Newms. Pastor Newms: [1:08:14] You guys be safe please love you guys. Pastor Bill: [1:08:17] And until next time.

This episode considers the history and work of Baptist Youth (a department of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland) by interviewing Matt Campbell the Director of Baptist Youth. Matt has been working as Baptist Youth Director since January 2016. He was born and raised in Ballymena. Matt's responsibility is to oversee the work of Baptist Youth and promote the work of the department among the churches of the Association. After studying Maths at Queens University, he began a Theology degree, at the Irish Baptist College.

This episode considers the history and work of Irish Baptist Women (a department of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland) by interviewing Gail Curry the Baptist Women's Director. Gail is married to Steven Curry who is pastor. After studying at Belfast Bible College they went out with Baptist Missions to plant Ballymoney Baptist before serving in Bethany Baptist Church Bangor and now are at Ballymena Baptist Church. Gail has been working as the Director of the Baptist Women's Department for over 12 years and serves on the committee for the Irish Women's Convention

Check out this clip from our upcoming podcast on the church challenge of remaining unified in the faith.

Today's reading comes from The Preaching of Our Particular Baptist Fathers in the Puritan Tradition. From a book called Notes on the Principles and Practices of Baptist Churches, Francis Wayland, 1857. This is not a recommendation of Francis Wayland. The Narrated Puritan features weekly readings from Puritan history read by Tom Sullivan. Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing affordable online theological education to help the Church in its calling to train faithful men. To learn more about CBTS, visit https://CBTSeminary.org. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/cbtseminary/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/cbtseminary/support

This episode is an interview with Trevor Ramsey the president of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland. Trevor presents his analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing Irish Baptist churches at the start of 2021. Trevor Ramsey has served as a pastor in the revitalising effort of Limerick Baptist, in the plant of Greenisland Baptist, and currently as the pastor of Newtownbreda Baptist (the largest church in the Association). This year Trevor also serves as president of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland. This wealth of experience and present position make him uniquely suited for a SWOT analysis of the present situation facing Irish Baptists on the island.

1 Cor. 1:3-9 Psalm 80:1-7 Our Executive Minister of our Evergreen Association of Baptist Churches extended a message of inspiration to our family of communities to recognize the significance of Advent and the opportunity we have in this moment as followers of Christ.

Today's context for the church is more complex than ever before. On this episode, we'll speak with Dr. John Hammett about the doctrine of the ecclesiology and his revised edition of Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches. He'll also share his thoughts on denominational identity and how the church “gathers.”

Mark Wilson, Director of the Ministries at the Baptist Churches of WA brings an encouraging messaging that Becoming more like Jesus happens when we serve God by serving other people.

This week's episode features a really encouraging conversation with Andy Glover. Andy is Team Leader of Hoole Baptist Church where he and his wife Sue have worshiped and served for 25 years. He is an accredited Baptist Union Minister. Andy has also helped set up and helps lead a relational unity network of churches of all denominations and streams from Cheshire West and Chester called Link Up. He is also part of the leadership team for Fresh Streams. This is a “word and spirit” network for church leaders, a catalyst for encouraging missionary churches and missionary discipleship as part of the movement to re-evangelise the UK and build the kingdom of God in our communities. This is a national network and consists primarily of Baptist Churches across England. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/E2H/message

Particular Pilgrims | In the 17th century, women made up the largest demographic in Particular Baptist churches. How did they participate in worship and in the public meetings of the church? Introducing Particular Pilgrims: Stories from Reformed Baptist History told by Ron Miller, Pastor of Covenant Baptist Church of Clarksville, TN and a longtime student and collector of Particular Baptist History. Pastor Miller also serves on the Board of Directors of Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing affordable online theological education to help the Church in its calling to train faithful men. To learn more about CBTS, visit https://CBTSeminary.org. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/cbtseminary/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/cbtseminary/support

This week Andrew talks with Dave Lovell who is the Senior Pastor of  Bendigo Baptist Church.  In this conversation Dave explores how one of the oldest Baptist Churches in regional Victoria has re-invented and repositioned itself for mission. In doing this a variety of opportunities have opened up for reaching people through the theatre, sports chaplaincy and “Madcow Burgers."  Interested? You should be it's a fascinating and inspirational conversation that is bound to give you  ideas and inspiration for reimagining mission in your area.

Particular Pilgrims | In the 17th century, who made up the largest demographic in Particular Baptist churches? Women typically made up a majority of the membership of Particular Baptist Churches. Why was that? What was church life like for them? How did they participate in worship and in the public meetings of the church? Introducing Particular Pilgrims: Stories from Reformed Baptist History told by Ron Miller, Pastor of Covenant Baptist Church of Clarksville, TN and a longtime student and collector of Particular Baptist History. Pastor Miller also serves on the Board of Directors of Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing affordable online theological education to help the Church in its calling to train faithful men. To learn more about CBTS, visit https://CBTSeminary.org. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/cbtseminary/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/cbtseminary/support

It's here! The weekly podcast from the Baptist Churches of South Australia where we can listen and imagine together. Each fortnight we interview a familiar face from our Baptist community, and then ask them to share one of their favourite sermons with us the following week. Join Melinda Cousins as we hear from our Movement.

Worship Leaders Bryan and Lauren Taylor lead singing at one of the largest Baptist Churches in America - Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. Their weekly "quarantine hymn sing" has garnered upwards of 50,000 viewers.

The mayor of Greenville, Miss. is under fire after he ordered police to raid two Baptist churches. First Liberty Institute is threatening a federal lawsuit.

This Podcast will be filled with conversations with Pastors and Leaders all over the region of the Fellowship Pacific Region of Baptist Churches.

Plenteous RedemptionMissionary Thomas Irvin: My Personal TestimonyBIMI Missionary to the country of Uganda, Africa.Missionary Thomas Irvin: My Personal TestimonyBIMI Missionary to the country of Uganda, Africa.This testimony was given at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Carthage, Tennessee.For when we were yet without strength…My testimony stands out due to its abnormality. I grew up in and around Memphis, TN. I was consistently inconsistent concerning church attendance and spiritual matters. Fortunately, when we did attend church we visited gospel preaching Baptist Churches. Therefore, I grew up knowing the gospel, though I did not trust Christ until I was twenty-nine. With this brief introduction allow me to take you through thirty-seven years of personal history.Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.I was born on September 24th, 1981 in Memphis, TN. I was stillborn to a sixteen-year-old homeless mother. My birthplace was the Med, which is kin to the city zoo. After resuscitation, the Lord saw fit to restore my life. Our lives together proved God’s word is true; starting a family in an unbiblical fashion produces a troublesome life. The Lord blessed me with a wonderful mother who was not slack concerning her responsibilities.In January 2000 I joined the U.S. Air Force, escaping the rebellious and the bad city. By 2005 I was a civilian again. In 2006 I became a defense contractor in Saudi Arabia. While there I met an American Muslim family who gave up U.S. citizenship to live in an Islamic country. Fifteen hundred years of the fruits of Islam proved that to be a bad decision. A member of the family asked me a question I could not shake; “How does a person become a Christian?”Until then, I assumed I was a Christian. I’m from the south, it never occurred to me that we must “become” Christians. This burst of light shone on my empty existence. I knew the answer to their question, I explained that all are required to trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The trouble is, I had never called upon the Lord.Nevertheless, my curiosity was peaked, my heart was convicted, and I needed answers; yet I was still in Saudi Arabia. There was no pastor available, there was no church available, so I did what any sensible American would do in 2010; I turned to YouTube. Coming from Memphis the only Pastor I knew of was Adrian Rogers. He had a sermon online called “The Simplicity Of Salvation.” He made salvation so clear to me.I struggled with the decision to call upon the Lord for nearly two weeks. I understood my twenty-nine years of baggage could not come with me into the Christian life. Considering what Christ suffered for me brought me to a final conclusion. I happily bowed my head and came to be identified with the “whosoevers” that have called upon the name of the Lord. Our Saviour is so wonderful; he reached down into Islamic darkness and saved a wretch like me.And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God;I left Saudi Arabia a saved man. From there the Lord led in such a way that Kristin and I are now BIMI missionaries en route to Africa. During my time in Saudi, I came to be involved in Mixed Martial Arts. From Saudi Arabia, I moved to Long Island, New York for my next training camp. While there, I found myself attending a Bible Believing Church. The Lord made clear to me Mixed Martial Arts fighting was not for Christians.My MMA training sessions subjected me to certain lewd fellows of the baser sort as well as colorful music and language. My next fight was in America’s version of Rome’s arenas, sponsored by unsavory products. It became clear as a follower of Christ, I would have to put childish and spiritually unprofitable activities away. My replacement for Martial Arts training was standing on busy shopping corners to pass out gospel tracts. The weapons of my new warfare were not carnal. Ibecame engaged in the good fight.Living in Long Island, NY my savings dissipated. I began looking for work, but a background in aircraft armament systems was not exactly marketable. After diligent search, reality set in that living in New York was not sustainable. The company I worked for in Saudi Arabia called about a position in Egypt, I explained I would have to work out certain issues before considering the position. Primarily, I had only been saved one year and refused to isolate myself from the fellowship of the saints.The Lord helped me find a faithful Bible Believing Missionary in Cairo, named David Gates. Excited about spending time with a missionary in Egypt, I accepted the job. On my way to Egypt, I was sent to the Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach for training. While there, I searched for a church to attend and found Bible Believers Baptist Church outside the Navy Base. In service, the pastor did something I found to be incredible, he preached line-by-line and verse-by-verse through the book of Acts.It was refreshing, I stayed after church Sunday talking with Pastor Tim MacDonald for nearly three hours. He gave me a book and CD produced by James W Knox. The disc had brother James’ Bible School course “How to study and teach the Bible.” My life was greatly enriched! He taught me to unequivocally trust God’s word! His Bible-teaching gave me great confidence in God’s word.Living in Egypt, encouraged to study, provoked to trust God, and serving the Lord with a missionary; the Lord gave me a taste of my future. Brother David and I spent hours nightly on the streets of Cairo witnessing. This was an exciting time, the Lord set my heart ablaze for missions. After one year in Egypt, my contract ended. I moved to Deland, Florida and started attending classes at the Deland School of The Bible.I had been in Deland for one year when offered my last contract in Afghanistan. I spent the next seven months at Camp Leatherneck working with the U.S. Military. While there, the Chaplin allowed me to teach the Bible in the chapel each Saturday. This Bible study was open to anyone interested in coming. The same men came consistently, each of them was from Uganda. These men were wonderfully receptive to God’s word and captivated my heart, sparking the desire to learn about the need there.I planned a trip to Uganda, my friends in Afghanistan made arrangements for me to preach daily while in Africa. The excitement was mounting then we received the news. President Obama was drawing down the war in Afghanistan. Instructions were given to prepare for an immediate return to the U.S.; this included canceling upcoming trips. I was devastated; it seemed to me the door was closed. As instructed I helped prepare for the return to the United States.Returning to Deland, I eased back into Bible School and various church ministries. I also married the most wonderful woman God could give an undeserving man. We spent our evening dinners searching Google Maps for various countries to see who God had laboring there, all the while praying the Lord would show us where we could be used. One evening I received a message from a Ugandan man that I met in Afghanistan. The message detailed a series of Islands situated in Southern Uganda.I searched the matter and found the islands situated on the Northern shores of Lake Victoria. This vast body of water demands reverence for its Creator. Northern Lake Victoria has eighty-four Islands known as the Ssese Islands. Kristin and I were unable to identify any missionaries laboring amongst those people. This was an answer to our prayer, the Lord gave us the desire of our hearts!I contacted missionary Keith Stensaas in Masaka, Uganda. He is a second-generation missionary in Uganda, now more than twenty years. With zeal, I explained the desire of our hearts regarding Ssese. With reciprocated excitement, he offered to assist us along the way. He has done exactly that and more. We hold Brother Keith and Mrs. Sally in high regard and look forward to laboring with them. Starting under the guidance of an experienced missionary is foundational for us.With his own hand, he leadeth me.I enjoy surveying my life, a man amongst the chiefest of sinners, and identifying the wonderful ways the Lord has led. Few men could be more undeserving, yet the Lord would use such an one as I to labor in his fields. My hope is the Lord’s people read this brief sketch of his workings in my life and will be encouraged to trust him more along the way. It is good for us to note these points in our lives, bringing them to remembrance, a memorial unto the Lord. May he receive the honor and glory due him in each of our lives.Psalm 52:9 KJV “I will praise thee for ever because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.” Recent Articles:Missionary Papers: The Preference of HomelessnessAlexander Mackay: The Childhood of a Missionary EngineerDeputation Travel Log: The Mountain City FloodAutogenous Drug Addiction: The RealityThe Emptiness Within Recent Sermons Preached:Answering The Lord’s PrayerRomans 1:1 – Called To BeProverbs 8:30-31 – Wisdom’s DelightRomans 1:1 – Are You A Servant For Great Bible Teaching:James W Knox SermonsBrent Logan – Sermon Series

All the top news stories from Baptists in the UK.We’ve news of Baptist Churches flooded – 7 feet of water in the road outside one Yorkshire church.New courses and new partnerships for 2 of our colleges.We mark International Women’s day by celebrating two BMS pioneers. Rev Allan Finegan invites you to his comedy night and we note that one college principal takes photos of restroom signs and we don’t know why. http://baptistvoice.co.uk/baptist-voice-march-2020/feed

Eric Skwarczynski can best be described as a “visual storyteller.”

He has spent the last 7 years fulfilling various media production roles, including as a videographer, photographer, writer & graphic designer. His work has taken him to over 20 states and 13 different countries, and has included a documentary film, an 8-episode mini-series, several commercials.

Currently, he is helping influencers, coaches, and business owners expand their reach by providing a high-quality podcast production service – a service that is rapidly growing to meet demand.

Eric is also deeply passionate about raising awareness of mental, physical, and sexual abuse within Independent Baptist Churches, and is currently producing a documentary on the subject. His accompanying podcast, Preacher Boys, launched in January 2020, and reached 12k downloads within the first month.He is gearing up to launch a second show entitled, The Good Story Podcast, which will share inspiring stories of artists and creators who have had an impact through media. On This Episode:Eric talks about growing up within the Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement and discovering the dark secrets of the religious denomination he was connected to.Discover the importance of rebuilding yourself and questioning what you believe.Heather and Eric discuss a massive story of abuse regarding a major organization that Eric broke on his podcast on Monday, February 17, 2020.Eric Skwarczynski:Instagram: Instagram.com/eskwarczynskiFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkwarczynskiFilms/Twitter: twitter.com/eskwarczynskiPreacher Boys:Website: https://www.preacherboysdoc.com/Facebook: facebook.com/preacherboysdocInstagram: instagam.com/preacherboysdocTwitter: twitter.com/preacherboysdocFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1403898676438188/Sponsor:Surviving to Thriving is brought to you by Knight Protection Services. A veteran-owned and operated company, Knight Protection Services employs a diverse group of former law enforcement officers and military veterans of the highest integrity, with extensive experience in risk assessment and crime prevention. Find out more by visiting https://knightprotectionllc.com/.For More Information About Surviving To Thriving: http://tothriving.org/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ken Clendinning and Graham Joseph Hill discuss pastoral ministry, serving Jesus, and loving his church. The Global Church Project podcast episode #148.Ken Clendinning has served in a wide range of ministry roles, including the Director of Ministries for the Baptist Churches in NSW and ACT, Australia, the pastor of the Baptist churches in Broken Hill and in Orange, NSW, and serving on the faculty at Morling Theological College for over 14 years, where he lectured in the areas of pastoral and practical theology. He is currently serving as an interim minister, helping churches move become healthy and outward looking. Aside from his pastoral studies, Ken also has a background in education, psychology and sociology. For more than 25 years he served as the chaplain of the Canterbury Bulldogs NRL football team.

David and Mike discuss the GARBC's proposed updated purpose statement and how it better answers the question, "What is our purpose and our mission?"Current statement (adopted 1972):To maintain an association of sovereign Bible-believing, Christ-honoring Baptist churches; to promote the spirit of evangelism; to spread the gospel; to advance Regular Baptist educational and missionary enterprises at home and abroad; to raise and maintain a testimony to the truth of the gospel and to the purity of the Church; to raise a standard of Biblical separation from worldliness, modernism and apostasy; to emphasize the Biblical teaching that a breakdown of divinely established lines between Bible believers and apostates is unscriptural and to be a voice repudiating cooperation with movements which attempt to unite true Bible believers and apostates in evangelistic and other cooperative spiritual efforts.Proposed new statement (2019):The GARBC exists to glorify God by assisting churches in biblical and dynamic disciple-making as an association of autonomous, Bible-centered, Christ-exalting, gospel-proclaiming Baptist churches. Based on our commitment to doctrinal purity, we collaborate with likeminded ministries that share our beliefs and our passion for making disciples of Jesus Christ.Older Purpose Statements:1934–1948To spread the Gospel, advance Missionary enterprises, do Evangelistic work, provide fellowship for Baptist Churches.1949–1971To spread the Gospel, advance Baptist missionary enterprises, promote evangelism and provide Fellowship for Baptist Churches. (This statement governs the policy of the Association only, and in no wise makes mandatory any like policy in any fellowshipping church).

"Rather than looking for the silver bullet, we need to come back to our faith, and humble ourselves before God." "We're not actually important enough to stuff up God's plans." Beth Hoy shares her stories, frustrations, insights, and hopes for how we might see followers of Jesus raised up from the next generation. Beth is the Generations Facilitator for Baptist Churches in South Australia, and she is living out the message she carries to emerging leaders.

As her 2yo daughter, Hosanna, schools us on Mr Happy and Pokemon, Beth Hoy pulls back the curtain on some of her own story. Beth is the Generations Facilitator for Baptist Churches in South Australia, and she is living out the message she carries to emerging leaders. May your heart be encouraged as you hear her story.

Viv Grice and Graham Hill discuss how the church can nurture and inspire healthy, Christ-glorifying pastoral ministry. They also discuss how to develop happy, healthy pastoral families, and how to nurture pastoral marriages and the spiritual and emotional lives of pastoral children (PKs). The GlobalChurch Project podcast episode #119. The video is available on theglobalchurchproject.comViv serves as the Team Leader for Gen1K Leadership Development for the Baptist Churches of NSW/ACT, Australia. He is responsible for supporting and developing local Baptist churches, pastors and chaplains across the Australian states of the ACT and NSW. Prior to joining the Association, Vivian served on the pastoral teams of a number of Baptist churches.

Steve Bartlett and Graham Hill discuss renewing church planting and leadership development, at www.TheGlobalChurchProject.com. The GlobalChurch Project podcast episode #103Steve Bartlett is the Director of Ministries for the Baptist Churches of New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Australia. This role is responsible for servant leadership and oversight of this movement of churches. This is a group of more than 340 congregations committed to serving together with a purpose of advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ in word, sign and deed. More than 50,000 people are involved in this family of churches. Steve has spent decades in church planting, in training and equipping church planters, and in pastoral leadership.Steve Bartlett and Graham Hill discuss such themes as:Why the church must be passionate about, and committed to, church planting and leadership development.Steve Bartlett tells his story of church planting, and why he loved being a church planter.How church planting, leadership development, and church health are interrelated.How local churches and denominations can partner in church planting.How to identify those with the pioneering gift, and then develop them, partner with them, and support them in an ongoing way.Looking after family and personal life when you are involved in church planting and pioneering work.Being a couple in church planting and ministry (how a husband and wife can develop a creative partnership in ministry).Why a church planting movement needs a leadership development strategy and movement to happen.Three key things that work in churches that do leadership development well: (1) intentionality about building a leadership culture; (2) the essential place of disciple-making and spiritual formation, in relationship; and, (3) the use of coaching and apprenticeship models of leadership development and mobilisation.Steve also shared the Baptist Churches of NSW and ACT (Australia) “Gen1k Vision” of planting 1,000 healthy churches. This church planting vision has these features:1. Diversity in the expressions of churchSmall or large, network, neighbourhood or regional… the possibilities are endless. We anticipate that in this new wave of church planting there will be a mix of community churches, house churches, ethnic churches, student churches, and other sub-culturally focused churches as well as more “conventional” plants. We will be embracing a variety of models with the same mission-focused heart.2. Missional plantingChurch renewal is often a by-product of church planting and we affirm this. However this vision would see us genuinely penetrating new ‘tribes’ and ‘subcultures’ in our community – people far from God.3. Exponential, decentralised growthTrue church planting movements don’t emerge from a ‘top-down’ policy decision to start new churches. They gain momentum from the grassroots, fanned by the power of the Holy Spirit.4. Kingdom leadership developmentThis will characterise our movement and our churches into the future, bringing sustained commitment and energy to the vision of healthy, mission-focused, reproducing churches. Planting many churches will also mean developing and releasing many more mission-focused leaders. This will happen as churches implement processes to intentionally grow potential leaders from their conversion onwards, with the aim of seeing them released into mission-focused ministry.

About This Episode   This first episode of the MigCast is an interview with General Director of the Baptist Union, Alan Donaldson. The MigCast is hosted by Glenn Innes and is a production of the Mission Initiative Group of the Baptist Union of Scotland.  Topics covered include: The current health of the Baptist Union, especially as it relates to Brierley Report from 2016. Key challenges facing Baptist Churches in Scotland The signs of hope Alan sees around our family of churches.  Alan's take on where the church is heading in the next decade or so.  Missional imperatives in light of the future challenges.  ------- LEAD Acadamy contact at the Baptist Union is Martin Hodson who can be reached at martin@scottishbaptist.org.uk Contact the MigCast on twitter on @BUSMIGCAST or email glenn@thebridgeaberdeen.com    

There are times in your life where you just need a sanity check, you need to get with friends you trust to see if you’re crazy. With the current political climate and the state of our country, I do just that and that’s why I choose to sit down with Chris. A pastor at Central Church, Chris and I both grew up in Baptist Churches. The thing is, my version of Baptist and his are totally different. We talk about it. Then talk about the things we’re seeing going on in the world today. Chris has a more conservative background than I . Given the conversation, I thought it may come in handy. I knew he’d be a great person to discuss some of my thoughts and feelings I’ve been battling with since the election. For me it comes down to the hypocrisy of it all. Makes me want to sing a little MJ, Man in the mirror. The thing I love most about our conversation is that we can talk from different perspectives. It doesn’t feel confrontational, it doesn’t feel uncomfortable, and it doesn’t feel fake. It as real as it gets. In this conversation we talk about some hot button topics. We talk about politics, the conservative perspective, along with a more liberal view. The conversation get’s so real, we just go there and discuss Pro Life and Pro Choice scenarios. I love these types of conversations because they create a space for seeing things differently. It’s gets a little goofy at the end as I realize that old people are ruining the internet. Thanks to Chris Johnson for the conversation. Please go check out Everything Is Light You can reach out to Chris at the following: Everything is Light Podcast Twitter: @eilpodcast http://www.everythingislight.org Twitter @chris_J91 Music provided by Syblying of Assemble Sound http://www.assemblesound.com You are now apart of The Mixed Modern Family Go to our website at www.mixedmodernfamily.com There you’ll find links to our twitter and instagram Twitter: @mixedmodernfam Instagram: mixedmodernfamiy Just Know that you are liked, you are love but mostly importantly, know that you are OK.

Our Scripture verse for today is Psalm 138:2 which reads: "Jesus saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Our History of Black Americans and the Black Church quote for today is from Lee June, a professor at Michigan State University and the author of the book, "Yet With A Steady Beat: The Black Church through a Psychological and Biblical Lens." He said, "Rituals, offerings, songs, and prayers are all vital in the life of a church community. The rituals of baptism and communion, as well as prayer, have clear biblical sanctions. Songs, likewise, are critical to worship. The challenge is to continue these practices in a manner that is consistent with Scripture." Our first topic for today is titled "The Slave Trade and the New World (Part 6)" from the book, "From Slavery to Freedom" by John Hope Franklin. The Big Business of Slave Trading, continued It must not be assumed that trading in slaves involved the simple procedure of sailing into a port, loading up with slaves, and sailing away. In addition to the various courtesy visits and negotiations that protocol required and that the traders were inclined to follow in order to keep the local leaders in good humor, it was often difficult to find enough "likely" slaves to fill a ship of considerable size. Frequently, traders had to remain at one place for two or three weeks before enough slaves were rounded up to make the negotiations worthwhile. It was not unusual for a ship to be compelled to call at four or five ports in order to purchase as many as 500 slaves. Local inhabitants frequently had to scour the interior and use much coercion to secure enough slaves to meet the demands of the traders. ... Our second topic for today is "The Negro Church: A Nation Within a Nation, Part 7" from The Negro Church in America by E. Franklin Frazier.  --- The Church and Economic Cooperation As DuBois pointed out more than fifty years ago, "a study of economic co-operation among Negroes must begin with the Church group." It was in order to establish their own churches that Negroes began to pool their meager economic resources and buy buildings and the land on which they stood. As an indication of the small beginnings of these churches, we may note that the value of the property of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1787 was only $2,500. During the next century the value of the property of this organization increased to nine million dollars. The Negroes in the other Methodist denominations, and especially in the numerous Baptist Churches, were contributing on a similar scale a part of their small earnings for the construction of churches. ... Our third and final topic for today is from "The Black Church in the U.S.: Its Origin, Growth, Contributions, and Outlook" by Dr. William A. Banks. Today we are looking at part 7 of Chapter 4: "Reconstruction and Retaliation -- 1866 to 1914" --- FRUSTRATING SECULAR CONDITIONS The years 1865-1914 are often considered the worst period in the American Negro's history. One writer referred to this period as: "the silent era, a time in which even those churches which had vociferously championed the abolition of slavery largely ignored the racial problems gathering during these years and turned their backs on the liberated slaves. (It is not coincidental that this was also the era of a vigorously expanded Protestant foreign mission program -- a possible compensation abroad for a glaring default at home) In this era, the North, preoccupied with its rapid industrial development, not only neglected the Negro it had freed, and left him to flounder, but also in a nationwide political maneuver returned the Negro to the control of his former master and to a condition little better than his previous slavery." ...

---My guest is Shane Coburn, his church Maywood Baptist has been taken over by false teachings, vain deceit and philosophies. We will be discussing Bill Tenny-Brittian, and his false teachings which have invaded especially the Baptist church. What place does Harry Potter have with the body of Christ? Why do we only need 5 commandments? Must we be "inclusive?". Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.Col 2:8      

---My guest is Shane Coburn, his church Maywood Baptist has been taken over by false teachings, vain deceit and philosophies.We will be discussing Bill Tenny-Brittian, and his false teachings which have invaded especially the Baptist church. What place does Harry Potter have with the body of Christ? Why do we only need 5 commandments? Must we be "inclusive?".Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.Col 2:8      

Presentation of the Church Vision for 2004 with a focus on individual and family devotions, personal witnessing, and being part of a ministry for the Glory of God. I. Introduction: Understanding the Four Diagnostic Questions The Goal: Accessing Last Year’s Work and the Work for this Year I hope you all have one of these attractive-looking vision plans for the aqua cover. Did you all get one? Does anyone need one? I have a few down here in front. Would a deacon be willing or somebody be willing to come up? And if you didn't get one, if you didn't get one raise your hand and Eric will get one or Bob Meter in the back. Raise your hand if you didn't get one, you all have them in the back. Good, I see it. Good. Fantastic, but if you don't have one, raise your hand and we'll get one to you. Our goal tonight, I'm not going be able to go through all the details in this. That's why we put it in paper, so that you could look at it. But our desire is to set a clear vision for ministry for the church as we feel God leading us, and ultimately a congregational church, and you individually, you're going to follow as you feel like you should, but we feel that this lines up very well with what God is doing in us and around us. And we feel that we're going to be responsible for these mission fields, whether we own up to that responsibility or not, so the idea is that we're going try to be faithful as best we can on the leadership of God, and so we're venturing forth in the year 2004 in these various ways. Now, what I want to do tonight is I want to begin by just giving you an overview of the booklet, and then I'm going to spend a little time looking backward at the year 2003 at our top 10 ministry initiatives, what happened, what was good and what we could still use some growth in. And then we're going to go through this vision plan with the time that we have left. Okay, and anything we don't get to, you're just going to have to read on your own and come with questions and just -we're excited, we really. We're grateful for God's leadership. And we're excited to be here tonight, and I hope you are as well. If you want to just look at the front cover there, and it says a vision for ministry in the year 2004, starting with the basics, and I think we, in the ministerial staff, felt that we needed to emphasize basic walking with Christ above all things. This year now, this is just based on my assessment of just through counseling, through just being pastor here, and not just me, but the other pastors on the staff feel that unless these things that are related and these four questions are happening, nothing else will really happen or be of any eternal consequence. So we're going to focus on these and we're going to be asking these questions until you probably may get weird of hearing it. But I'm going to try to be interesting, in the way I'm asking them, but we're going to ask them again and again in private counseling in the halls, in Sunday School classes, in sermons, again and again, these things are going to be in front of you. And they're in front of you. Anyway, they really are. It's not like we're inventing something new, and these are things that God is calling us to do as people, but we're trying to hone and focus on our vision and concentrate on these things, and what are they? They are the area of personal quiet times and devotional life with the Lord. That we'll be faithful, each of us to have a devotional every day that we would be in the Word and in prayer every day. Secondly, that we would be faithful in our roles in family devotions, and I'm going to explain more about what that means. I know that not everyone here sitting tonight is at the same place in life, but we all do have a role to play in family ministry, and then specifically in the area of the family devotion, we're going to talk about that. Thirdly, personal witnessing, that each one of you’d lead someone to Christ this year would be just wonderful. But even more, that we would just be faithful to what God's calling us to do, that we would be witnesses, because you know actually we're not called to lead anyone to Christ, we're going to talk more about…, that's not our job. We can't do that, that's the Holy Spirit's work. But we are called to witness, aren't we? That's what Acts 1:8 says and many other places, and that I want us to do, and I don't think it's a regular part of everyone's life in this church, and we want to help people grow in that area. And the fourth area is, Do you have a ministry? What is your ministry here? And we're going to talk more about that, but that's the overall focus that we're going to be giving. We are Here for God’s Glory Now we do have some areas of initiative and we're going to talk about that, that we're going to focus on in terms of moving out and energetically giving effort in those seven areas. But this is, the focus is going to be on the basics in the Christian life. Now, I want to remind you of what our vision statement is, again, on the front page, we exist, it says, “To delight in display and declare the glory of God equipping His people to spread that delight to all nations through Jesus Christ.” That's why we're here, we have a reason for existing, and that's what we sense the Lord leading us to say about that reason, we're here for His glory, and we're here for His glory in the way that's described there. Now take that booklet and open to the very back page, and you'll find a very homely little cartoon there that was in the booklet last year. And I think it's a good visual representation. You know, I did it because I can call it homely, if somebody else did it, they'll call it beautiful or artistic or creative, but because I did it, I'm going to call it homely, but it looks a little bit like a cartoon, but the idea is, I'm trying to get on one page, just kind of the big picture. The central thing I hope that grabs your eye is the glory of God. Now, I was talking to somebody earlier today, and somebody said that phrase is in danger of going the way of what would Jesus do? We just talk about the glory of God all the time. Well, it's not so much that we talk about the glory of God, is that the scripture makes the glory of God's central, and we are acknowledging that we're seeing it. What do I mean by that? It's the way that God displays or reveals his nature and his plans for the world, whenever God shows himself, whenever he reveals his attributes, his nature, what his qualities are, that is his glory. It's the kind of outward emanation of his nature, and we see it in the scripture, we see it in creation, we see it in each other as we're following God, we see it all around us. And that is really why God created the world. It is the end for which he created the world, that he would display his glory. Anything we do that's off that point, we've missed it, we really have, and so the center of everything we're doing, we want God to be displayed, we want people to see our good deeds that they may glorify God in heaven. That's it. I mean, that he would be central and exalted, so there it is in a kind of a glory cloud there, and from that, we have God moving out through the cross of Jesus Christ into the local church, energetically taking the initiative with us. We're not inventing ways to glorify God, he's glorifying himself through us, he's got the initiative, he moves, we follow, he initiates we respond, that's the way it is. I wouldn't want it any other way, I don't want to initiate and he respond. God has always thought of everything eternally before I ever was born, and his wisdom is of the Ancient of Days, we're following him, but he is moving energetically and we through the cross of Jesus Christ, we are going to be busy in house. In here, we're going to be busy at 414 Cleveland Street in this place, in this church, we're going to be energetic and active, but there's a purpose, the purpose is spiritual maturity. You see that in the center of the church, a little box there, spiritual maturity, we want to grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ, and we're going to see that happen as we're doing these kind of other ministries and ministry of the word, of worship, of discipleship, prayer. The Deacon ministry, support ministries, comforting ministries, all the ministries of the church, whatever they may be, they're focused on that we might come up into full maturity in Christ as a body. That's our desire to be like Jesus, to think like he does, to feel like he does, to move and be energetic in serving his father as he was. Now, it's so easy for a church to stay there, isn't it, but there's got to be a river of blessing that flows out of the church into the surrounding community and to the ends of the earth, and if it just stays in-house, we've missed it again, we have to grow. But there has to be - there has to be fruits, there has to be a river of blessing flowing out, and so we see that streams of living water, John 7:38 flowing in various channels, those channels I think have remained the same, I don't mind if some get added and others. But this is the idea is that there's going to be specific ways that we're going to see us reaching out through local outreach and urban ministry, global missions, pro-life ministry, prison ministry, student ministry, and internationals, and if there's any others that are sub parts of that, they're in there too, and if there are other major channels we've missed, we want to hear about them, but the idea is still the same, there's going to be kind of predictable and patterns of channels of blessing that are going to go out. It's not going to be disarrayed or hodge-podge, but there's going to be an arrangement of ministry that's going out into a specific field that God's assigned to us to minister. We're not assigned the universe and everything in it. That's not for us, we're a church of about between 375 and 425 people, that's my estimation. So there's a limit to what we're called to do, the idea of working a field or an assigned field is biblical, it comes in Corinthians, Paul talks about how his assigned field included you Corinthians, our field reached you, and so there's a scope of ministry and we're called to do that ministry and to be faithful. Now in prayer, we can touch the world, we can reach out through prayer and be involved, in financial and giving, we can touch many other things too, although not the world, but still. We can reach out, but still we're going to be working our field, we're going to work and what comes out of that growth, "God causes the growth," 1 Corinthians 3:6-7. And the kingdom in heaven is growing both internally in this church, as we grow up more and more maturity, that's kingdom growth, and as we reach out and see people coming to Christ and they're growing, that's kingdom growth. And all of that ds toward what? The glory of God. That's my kind of picture of what's happening here. Do you get it? The little cartoon in there, okay. Same as last year. And it would probably be the same next year too, but anyway, that's kind of what we're thinking about. Accessing Last Year – 10 Ministry Initiatives Now, if you go back one page from there, just back one page, we're going to see Top 10 Ministry initiatives a year 2003. And this was in front of us for the year, and we prayed over it, thought about it, made efforts and strove toward these things, and saw in some areas some really wonderful growth and other areas not as much. And so it was a good time for us to assess what happened, the quarterly corporate prayer ministry started. We had four quarterly corporate prayer meetings, they were, I think wonderful. They were Spirit filled, they were good times. They were not as well attended as we would have liked, so we're considering, and I think we've made the decision probably, to move them to Sunday evening once a quarter. And so we're going to be probably having quarterly corporate prayer for two hours on a Sunday evening in lieu of Sunday evening worship. And I'm excited about that. Where we're going to meet, I don't know. I don't like the kind of pew arrangement here for prayer, but we may do it in here if it's really well-attended, that would be exciting, we'll just make due, we'll kind of face each other around the pews and we'll just pray and that'll be great. But that's - I'm already oozing over into the future, and I do that, I do that, I just, it's hard to keep category straight - but looking backward, I think it was a good ministry. And I feel that God worked in some wonderful ways, the deacon family ministry plan is off and running. Again, we saw some good progress in that area, we have deacons taking very seriously they're shepherding responsibilities, they're making phone calls, they're keeping up with people, they're initiating with the people that are assigned to their care, again, there's more that could be done, just a matter really of faithfulness are the deacons being faithful. And you need to pray for your deacon that he would be faithful to the ministry that God's called them to do. We really need lots of layers of mutual shepherding in this church, don't we? In Sunday School, that needs to be there. We're just individually supposed to watch over one another in brotherly love, but the deacons have a very, very important burden in this, and that is to pray for and initiate with and keep up with people and just be out there and be caring for people. And I think we've started. But we just need to continue to see that progress. New Member assimilation, there was a very detailed plan that I think Scott Markley especially put together, and we've seen a lot of that come to pass. I know that the new member assimilation team has worked very hard to get new members involved in the life of the church, and I think it's been a good effort and I'm glad about it. I think again, there's still more that we can do, we want to do a better job of getting new members active in ministry and the church, and that's not the new member assimilation team's job per se, they're kind of match makers, just as we are a ministerial staff are match makers between individuals and ministries. But more than anything, we want people to take ownership of ministry and to find ways that they can minister, we'll talk more about that later on. But I think they've done a great job. And we want to see that continue. Short-term global mission trips, I think really went well this year, we had three of them, two to Haiti and one to China, all three were very successful. It was just encouraging to see the reports of people trusting Christ, praying to receive Christ, of progress in a church building that we felt the Lord leading us to build of medical missions there in Haiti, of basketball and English Camp in China, and so many other things are in the work that we were called to do. So we're very excited by the ministry that God led us to do, as we look forward to the year 2004, I want to see more good things happening and I'm excited about that. I think we should be excited. To me, I just feel like you had to pray about going on a short-term mission trip sometime in the next five years, there's something about actually being there and actually going, that just opens up your vistas, your horizons to the needs of the world and to what you can do and be involved. So that was, I think, a very successful element of our ministry. And number five targeted neighborhood outreach. I think this is probably one of the biggest successes of these 10 in that we started our monthly Sunday afternoon outreach, we've realized that there will be no organized outreach to the area without sacrifice. It's not possible. There's going to be some sacrifice. The question is, when is the sacrifice going to result in the greatest fruit. When are people, un-church people, most likely to be home, when can we minister to them? And so we hit on Sunday afternoon once a month. And we've seen many, many church members go out, we've seen church members taking steps of faith, they didn't want to be there, and they were there, and they stepped out and they did things that they had never done before. And it's a great avenue for more mature folks to take, people who feel more comfortable witnessing to take along those that are just getting going into it, to observe how to do it. And unless something better comes along, I think it's here to stay. That we're going to be continuing to do that ministry on Sunday afternoon. We've had some good meals that have been provided. It's been great to see the body of Christ come around that. And we're looking forward to seeing more. There were some aspects of that neighborhood outreach that we didn't do. One is that we had hoped to have kind of a host family, host a four-week investigative Bible study to which we would invite people in that neighborhood to go, and it was hard to get host families. And so we just said, “Well, let's put that on the shelf, and let's just go door to door.” And we've done that, but we want to look back again at that, I think it's a great way to get to know people and really study the Bible much better than a quick encounter at the door. So if we could say “There's a home two streets over or just next block, that's going to be having a Bible study starting in a month or in three weeks, four weeks study in the Gospel of John. Would you be interested?” I think we'd probably get five or six people that might come, and we're going to look at doing that again in the summer. I'll talk more about that in a bit, but I think number five was really good targeted neighborhood outreach, and we've seen some good things. International Ministry Team has done some excellent work, some hard work. Scott Markley has led that up and just worked hard in it, and we have a varied approach to international, so there's a lot of things going on, and Scott and Brad Brown and so many others, Steve Carell, I don't want to name names because I'm going to leave somebody out. And that's the problem you get into, but a lot of people have worked hard in International Ministry; we've seen some good organization that we'd like to see it continue, but the international ministry team is up and running and they meet regularly, and they're thinking about internationals, and we're seeing good things happen there. Number seven, great commission giving, I believe that last year was probably the best year ever of giving in our church, and this is across the board, if you really just look at how much money was given, the budget was increased the previous year, and we came within $6,000 of meeting it, and that's okay, that's fine. I actually think it was a good thing, you know that we came a little short, we were doing fine financially, we didn't spend to our budget at all, so that was fine. But then if you add into that - what happened with Lottie Moon and what happened with Anne Armstrong, what happened, especially with the Global Priority Mission Fund - it was a phenomenal year forgiving, phenomenal. And I think it's really just the tip of the iceberg. I just feel that there's more and more that we could be doing financially, and I'm excited about that looking forward to what God's going to do next year. Urban ministry growth, I think is of the 10, the weakest area. I'd be very honest with you, I feel that the Wagners have just stepped out in faith and done some great ministry, and I just feel we could support him better, I feel that there's more people out there that could step up and do mentoring on Wednesday, and we could branch out into other areas. We didn't do anything really with C.E.F. and Adopting a Block, even though John Blake was here and talked about that, and I just feel that it became kind of priority one, if you'll see on our top seven for this upcoming year. I want to see us embrace the urban ministry, I want to see us reach out better. So the other areas, I think we've been really good in, this one I want to see us do better, I just think that there's a whole bunch of folks out there that need the Lord, and they're right near us and we need to reach out to them. So I'm excited about that, I'm looking forward to what God's going to do, and I'm so grateful for those that have worked hard in urban ministry in our church, especially the Wagners, have been there very faithfully and others as well, and it's just been a great ministry, but I just like to see it developed. Pro-life ministry. I think, again, there's more that we could be doing in that and we need to get specific, it's hard to know, that's a little bit different than some of the other ministries, because there's this, “What do we do?”, and I think it's a matter of, kind of embracing ministries like the pregnancy support services. There was a baby shower for them, and I think it's a great idea. We would like to see that happen again, but with more publicity, a lot of more people knowing about it and getting involved in us embracing it, ministerial staff better, and talking more about pro-life and just having people thinking about what we're doing. We're going to talk more about that in a minute, so, good start, I think, I write a pro-life thing in the Beacon every time now, which I didn't do before, just trying to keep the issue in front of us, but there's more we can do. And the men's mentoring ministry as such didn't really happen, but it wasn't really that we were looking for. We really wanted to just have a men's retreat, and we did that in the fall. Really, you want to take the word mentoring out and just say, we're looking at just men's ministry, and there are going to be some that want to pair up as the women have with heart to heart. But there are others that just going to want to meet periodically on Saturday morning, breakfast or do some other things, and we're looking forward to that. But looking back, we did meet the goal of what it is we wanted to do, we wanted to have a men's retreat in which we are focused on men's roles in the church and in the family, especially focused especially on the family. And we've seen some good things happen, a number of men have testified how that has really changed their family lives, and we're excited about that. And we're looking forward to this upcoming year. So that's a real quick overview of the top 10 from last year. The Four Questions And I'm encouraged and I'm looking forward to what's going to go next. Now, if you turn the front of the book, we've already seen the front page, but if you turn inside the front page, we're going to look at back to the basics, we're going to look at four questions. And these questions, like I said, we're going to use to just minister to you folks and to encourage you to be faithful in these basic areas. This is what we'd like to see people do. Question number one personal devotions. Have you spent time in the Scriptures and prayer today? Have you done that today, personally? And we're going to keep that in front of you, we're going to be asking that question. Question number two, family devotions, have you been fulfilling your role in family devotions? I'm going to talk more about what I mean by that in a moment, but have you been filling the role? Have you understood what your role is, and have you been filling it? Fulfilling it. Thirdly, evangelism, have you shared the Gospel lately with anyone? And that's something that I just, I think that we as a church can help each other in this area. I think we need to own up to our responsibility and we need to say, "Hey, if it's been five years since I've said anything to anybody about Christ, so that's too long, but I want to change and I want to grow. I want to find out how to overcome any fears I might have, to know how to witness, I just want to witness, I just want to be a witness." And if you witnessed 10 times last year to double that, and then once you've hit that goal 20 times in the first four months, then you'll say, "Okay, I need to adjust my goal again, but I want to become a regular faithful witness to Christ." Have you shared the Gospel lately? And then the fourth question is ministry. Have you committed yourself or have you committed to a pattern of ministry at First Baptist Church? Again, I'm going to explain what that means, but I guess I'd like you to ask yourself the question, What is your ministry? What is your ministry? We're going to see I've written some things on each of these questions. But the one that sticks out is, if you were to ask yourself, “How many hours have I served First Baptist Church, not counting times in which I came to Sunday morning worship, Sunday evening worship or Wednesday evening teaching times?” Not counting those, if we just take those and remove them, and then you say beyond that, “What have I done? What was my ministry?” That's where I'm getting, that's what I'm zeroing in on. What is the ministry? And is it lining up the ministry you have, is it lining up with your spiritual gifts? How are things going with that? Those are the four questions, and we're going to just keep asking, we're going to keep urging people to think about them, we're going to keep saying, Are you in the word? Are you praying? How is it going in your family life? Are you centered on Christ and on his word? Have you witnessed anybody? Are you taking faith steps? Are you embracing your responsibility to be a witness and fourthly, “What is your ministry here at this local church?”. Okay, let's look a little more deeply at these questions. If you turn the page. II. Personal Devotions: Have You Spent Time in The Scriptures and Prayer Today? Personal Devotionals Vital for Growth and Fruitfulness Question number one is, Have you spent time in the Scriptures and prayer today? Personal devotionals are vital for growth and fruitfulness, it is impossible to grow in grace and to be eternally fruitful apart from dwelling moment by moment in Christ. Jesus made this clear when he said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing." To remain in Christ means to walk with him, to be conscious of his presence, to talk with him and to listen to him, it means to obey his commands and worship him in spirit and in truth. The key to this is the simple discipline of the quiet time or personal devotions. This is un-hurry time totally focused on two basic things, hearing from God through the Scriptures and talking to God through prayer. May I say boldly that if you are not doing this on a daily basis your ability to grow and bear fruit will be severely impaired. Some might say that's not really bold. Alright, that is just true. If you're not in the word and in prayer, if you're not having your daily time with the Lord, you're not going to be fruitful. You're going to be more of a problem than a solution. Jesus said, "Anyone who does not gather with me is scattering." So you're going to be a scatterer that day if you're not really walking with the Lord. I've found that to be the case for me. I've scattered some days more than gathered, and I want to be in the word and in prayer. Top Priority: Hearing God Speak Today by Scripture Second section, top priority is that you hear God speak today by Scripture. Nowadays people complain of the pace of life, saying they don't have time for quiet time. To realize how shocking this is, you need only to understand what time was given for. There's a magnificent passage in Hebrews 3 that puts this all in perspective, quoting, "So as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." Hebrews 3:7 and 8, the author to Hebrews is quoting an Old Testament Scripture, Psalm 95, and using its strong message to warn people of rebelling against God, of drifting away, Hebrews 2:1, turning away, Hebrews 3:12 or falling away, Hebrews 6:6 from God. That it is a quotation is clear from the "Today, if you hear His voice," and from the way most English Bible set this quotation apart in special font or a special paragraph arrangement. It is Psalm 95 verses 7 through 11 that the author to Hebrews is quoting. King David wrote that Psalm, as the author readily acknowledges in Hebrews 4:7, but in Hebrews 3:7, the author says, "As the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you hear His voice…'" Whenever we are reading Scripture, we are hearing the speech of the Holy Spirit, he's speaking directly to us. Note that the verb tense is present; he doesn't say as the Holy Spirit said, but as the Holy Spirit says, this present speaking by the spirit is also emphasized by the quotation itself. "Today, if you hear His voice…" Every time we read Scripture, we are hearing the very voice of God himself. And that should happen today or, "…as long as it is called today," Hebrews 3:13. Your life is made up of a series of things called today, you can't obey God yesterday, and you can't obey God tomorrow. You can only ever obey God today, and the key to walking with him is to hear his voice and obey him today. And when we hear him speak to us today, we must obey, we must not harden our hearts as they did in the rebellion. Therefore, a healthy Christian life, must center every day on hearing God speak to our hearts by reading Scripture. How should we read? Deeply, carefully, thoughtfully with meditation and memorization, not quickly, lightly, thoughtlessly as if to check a box on a to-do list. Read that your heart may be renewed and transformed, Roman 12:2, by what you read. So our first priority as Christians, as we're going to hear from God today. Jesus said in John 10, "My sheep hear my voice. They listen to me and they follow me." How are you hearing Christ speak to you? I'm just urging you, be in the word. Be in the word. Let Him speak to you. Say, "Lord, please speak to me today, talk to me, tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it." And he speaks clearly through Scripture. Speaking to God in Prayer Secondly, you need to speak to him in prayer. There needs to be a conversation, he's speaking to you through Scripture and you're speaking back to him in prayer. You need to speak to God in prayer. Prayer is the language of the soul, and the soul that breathes no prayer to God is dead. There are so many commands to pray in the Bible that there is no need to list them here, but let me encourage you not to substitute moment by moment, quick situational praying which is a good thing, by the way, like Nehemiah did before the king. In Nehemiah 2:4 for the totally focused on your knees, doing nothing but prayer time that I have in mind. Both are vital to a healthy walk with God, but here I am advocating a quiet time, a time in which you concentrate your mind totally on prayer. Let your worship flow in prayer. Let your complaints and requests be laid before the throne with faith, let your heartfelt confession of sin cleanse your soul, 1 John 1:9 and Hebrews 4:16, spend more and more time in prayer in 2004, intercede for others as you were commanded in Ephesians 6:18, always "…keep on praying for all the saints” and wrestle for them in prayer. Prayer is the language of the soul, and the soul that breathes no prayer to God is dead. You've got to pray. This church isn't going to go any further than it goes on its knees; we've got to be faithful in prayer, you need to pray for this church, we need to pray for each other. It says that we're to watch over one another in brotherly love. You can't do that any better than by praying for them. Pray for each other. Be faithful in prayer. Morning: the Best Time for a Quiet Time Now, it gets controversial here, morning is the best time. I'm not going to be dogmatic, I know there are some people that are just not morning people, but I think those that are just not morning people can honor and glorify God even more than those that are morning people. By having a morning quiet time. It is a sacrifice. It is a challenge. Jesus set the pattern for us in Mark 1:35, it says, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he prayed to His father." The Psalmist also display the same pattern, "In the morning, oh Lord, you hear my voice, in the morning oh lord when I lay my request before you and wait in expectation." Also Psalm 80:13 and 143:8 and others. Now, if you can't have a morning quiet time, I'll understand. I think an ounce of prevention is still worth a pound of cure, and if at the end of a day of not really walking well with the Lord, you can kind of clean it all up with a good quiet time, that's wonderful. But I just think every day is a new and fresh day. "His mercies are new every morning," and I think it's good to begin a day fresh with a time in the Lord, a time in prayer and in reading Scripture. So the closing exhortation is, make it your top priority in the year 2004 for to grow in your consistency, depth, fervency and love and devotions to God. It is the foundation of everything else you'll try to do. Turn the page. III. Family Devotions: Have You Been Fulfilling Your Role in Family Devotions? The Stewardship of the Family: Souls Are At Stake Question number two. Have you been fulfilling your role in family devotions? Now, I'm not going to read through every word of this like I did the quiet time. I wanted to get a clear emphasis on a quiet time, so I read that. Let me summarize what it is I'm going to say in here. Basically, the family is God's central and first human institution; the family is what God first set up before the church, the church therefore is made up of what the family has produced, not just biologically folks, but in terms of our character, who we are as people, it's a vital and important role. Baptists are right, I think, to emphasize evangelism and witnessing and to think about Damascus Road conversion experiences, but the fact is, even in Baptist Churches most people were raised in Christian homes. The Christian home is a powerful tool for witnessing and for discipleship, isn't it? And so I think it should be a central concern of our church, how healthy are the families in this church, and that's where I want to get into the idea of roles. I'm well aware that not everybody who is listening to me tonight or who will get this document and read it with interest, is in the place in life where they have school-aged children or they're able to have a family ultra-time, I know that. I know that there're widows and widowers. I know there are some that have never married. I know that there are some that are hoping some day to marry but aren't married yet. I know that there are college students. There are youth, there are children, everybody is kind of at a different place in life, and yet I believe we all have a role to play in this issue of family devotions. Everyone Has a Role What do I mean? Well, certainly, if you're the father of a house full of children with a wife, your responsibility is to gather the family regularly around what I call the family altar, and if that terminology isn't beneficial to you, just family devotions in which you're opening the Scripture and reading the Scripture and praying and leading your family spiritually. If you are a wife in that family, you have a role to support and respect your husband's leadership, to pray for him, that he be faithful in that and to set a good example for your children. And during the actual time of devotions to be the co-disciple along with the husband of the children, sharing and talking and leading by example. If you're a child, your responsibility is to look forward to those times to be excited about them, to say, "I can't wait for family devotions," to contribute as your parents allow and as the Lord leads for you to be a positive force for that and to talk to your friends about how much you love family devotions, and to really be encouraging. And fathers to exhort other fathers to do that. Now, if you're a widow or a widower, or if you're in one of those other situations, you can at least do this: you can be praying for the families that have children that are growing, that they would be faithful. Older women can disciple and mentor, and set example for younger women, older men can do the same for younger men as is laid out for us so beautifully in Titus chapter 2. We can set examples, we can encourage each other in the halls, we can exhort them, we can say, "I'm praying for you and for your family that you be faithful in family devotions. How is it going?" We all have a role to play, and if you're a grandparent you can in a creative way with your children, encourage them in that area, I know it takes a light touch and figure out how best to do that, but just be praying that they would be faithful in this matter of the spiritual life of the family. And so this is what I'm urging you to do. Have you been faithful in fulfilling your role in family devotions? Turn to the next issue. IV. Evangelism: Have You Shared the Gospel Lately? The Great Commission Five Times Over Three, evangelism. Have you shared the Gospel lately? The Great Commission was given to us at least five times. It actually was given to us far more than that. If you look at Matthew 28, and Mark 16, as it's listed there, Luke 24, John 20 and Acts 1:8, these are all various forms of the Great Commission. Before Christ left, before he ascended up to heaven, he gave us a job to do. I like what it says in John 20, "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." Well, how did the Father send him? Specifically why did the father send him? I think the father sent him to seek and to save what was lost. If our church is not seeking and saving the lost, we are missing it, we're sick spiritually, we are not healthy, we're not engrafted into the vine, we're not compassionate the way Jesus was who wept over Jerusalem, we are not linked in with what he's doing in the world. He is saving lost people, and so we have to be active in evangelism. Our Personal Responsibility: Evangelize the Lost Is it just for the trained professionals? Not at all. Church history bears out that the most effective witnesses are everybody, not just the trained folks, but those that it says in Book of Acts, in effect kind of gossip the Gospel, they just chattered it and talked to their neighbors and friends at the marketplace, and they just shared. It was common people, it was the slaves, it was the low man and woman, it was the child, it was anybody and everybody who was called to be a witness. And I want us to embrace this. In the end it's a joy. I know it's a little scary, but frankly, I think that's a good thing. It's good because it causes to let go of some things that are not really that vital anyway, namely praise of man and woman to be concerned what people think. To be thinking too much about your earthly reputation. I didn't say much about it here in this section, but the workplace is a phenomenal place for witnessing, it really is, it's maybe one of the best places where you can get to know non-Christians and be faithful in witnessing. More than anything, the whole focus or burden of this section is that you would embrace your personal responsibility to evangelize the lost. That you would ask yourself, “Have I been faithful in witnessing?” Wherever You Are, Take the Next Step And if you look in the next page C, it says, wherever you are, take the next step, look at this with me. Acknowledge that you have a personal responsibility to be a witness for Christ, if appropriate, confess your sins to God, say something like this, "I've failed in my personal responsibility to witness for Christ, it's been such and such days, months, weeks, years, since I opened my mouth and said anything to anybody I didn't know about Jesus." And that's fine, the Lord knows anyway, but just speak it to him and tell him what it's been. Repent from the sin and resolve to make this upcoming year the richest and best year of personal witnessing you've ever had. Assess your level of maturity and ask God to show your next step. If it is simply to invite someone to church, then do it. If it is to get a good gospel track and to give 10 of them out in the next month, do it. If you need additional training, then get it, but beware sitting in the classroom is not enough to discharge your responsibility to witness. We're kind of good studiers, and that's fine, but the best place to learn how to witness is go out and do it, and then they ask those questions that you have no answer for, and then you come and say, "Oh no, what do I say when they say such and such?" Etcetera. You get all excited and you're highly motivated when you're out there doing it. The thing I'm excited about Sunday afternoon outreach once a month, is that you have a regular ongoing vehicle to go out and try. To go out and go door to door and let the Lord be there, and frankly, it's a great entry point for you. You could say, "Look, I am at such and such a place in witnessing, I'd like to just go and observe." I guarantee there will be somebody who will take you along and say, "Just come and watch. Let's do it together." It's a great setup, and I'm urging people more and more be involved in those Sunday afternoon outreaches, if you're afraid to witness, confess your fear and ask the Lord to help you. Number seven, if you haven't witnessed in years, witness once to someone in the first three months of the year. Invite someone to church. Give them a track. Speak the name of Christ. Say something like, "He's a wonderful savior," or something. I knew a guy that used to do that. He'd be playing basketball and somebody would take the name of the Lord in vain, and he'd say, "May the name of the Lord be praised," that's what he'd say every time he'd hear Jesus or Christ, he'd say, "May his holy name be praised," something like that, and they'd always kind of stop and look at him. That's a good opportunity, kind of an odd one, to turn it around like that, but to use it as a witnessing opportunity. Number eight, rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. And number nine, make a commitment to come to our monthly neighborhood outreach, and there you can learn by watching and eventually become more and more experienced yourself. A Key Daily Prayer for the Year Now listen to this, D, a key daily prayer for you, central recommendation challenge here every day, pray the following prayer to God, "O Lord, please give me a chance to witness to someone today, I will trust you for the chance and with your help, make the most of it." I have found that when I pray that prayer, I am much more active in witnessing. Someone said, "Yes, that's why I'm not going to pray that prayer." So at least they're honest. And I appreciate that, I really do, but I think it's a good prayer to pray, say, "Lord, it's a Monday, give me a chance to witness today. Just bring somebody across my path and then when it happens, just tug on me inside and say, 'This is it,' and then tell me what to say." I'll know what to say. V. Ministry: Have You Committed to a Pattern of Ministry at First Baptist Church? Do You Have a Ministry? Okay, fourth question, Have you committed to a pattern of ministry at First Baptist Church? Do you have a ministry? Alright, here, I'm going to urge you more than anything to make the most of your time, I think of giving money and giving time. It's harder to give time. I do, I just, I think money is a sacrifice, but time's a bigger sacrifice, and so for you to be faithful in giving of yourself of your time is a sacrifice. It's a commitment. Two Patterns of Ministry in a Local Church: Spiritual Gifts & General Servant Ministries There are two patterns of spiritual ministry in a church, one of them is spiritual gift ministry and the other is just general loving service type ministry, and we're called to do both, I just think we're called to do both. First spiritual gift is you have to find out what your spiritual gift package is. It's not just one gift, but it's always an arrangement of special abilities that God gives you that enables you to minister very effectively, consistently in a certain area, whether it's administration or giving or prayer, or witnessing or teaching, or any one of a combination of those and others, that's your spiritual gift ministry. You need to maximize your ministry hours in the church doing that. But there still should be a chunk of the pie left for the second type of pattern of ministry and that is just willing to pick up a mop or to clear a table, or to drive somebody somewhere, or to come to a workday, shovel snow, whatever. Willing to serve in any way, just as Jesus was willing to wash feet, we're willing to do anything. And the question is thinking differently about the church. “What Has the Church Done for Me Lately???” Look on at C there, the question, “What has the church done for me lately???” That's an interesting question, isn't it? Especially with three question marks. What has the church done for me lately? Deadly consumerism has crept into the American church, in which people look on the church as a place in which they pay for services received, and in which they are able to assess constantly the performance of the church in meeting their needs. It's like we're kind of a company where you kind of buy services by giving it to either offering and then you expect those services to be performed well, and so there's a whole reversal here. It's not, “How can I serve, how can I love?” but “What have you done for me and my family lately?” I think this church needs to not have any part of that attitude, I think we need to get rid of it. We need to not think that way, this reverses everything and it's deadly for the individual Christian and for the local church, and yet I have seen this kind of attitude again and again even in our church, sometimes. Christ instead has given us a different pattern of sacrificial service to others for the glory of God. First Baptist Church will succeed or fail in this mission in Durham based on the sacrificial service of its members. First Baptist Church will succeed or fail in this mission in Durham based on the sacrificial service of its members. Questions for Personal Examination Now, on the next page, I give a series of questions for personal examination. I'm not going to read a single one of them, but I'd like you to read them. I'd like you to take them before the Lord in prayer in your quiet time, and just allow the Lord to probe you in each of these areas, hold on to this booklet, use it throughout the upcoming year. I'm going to use it in counseling and encouraging people, just asking these kinds of questions, which will kind of get at how these areas are going for you. VI. Initiatives for 2004 Overview: Top 7 Areas of Initiative Back to the basics folks, I feel that if we're faithful in these four areas, the next areas will come really just naturally. I think they're going to come. Turn the page after the questions and you're going to see top seven areas of initiative in 2004 and we can go through this relatively quickly. On the one facing page, it tells you what they are: urban ministry growth, great commission giving, local outreach, corporate prayer life, pro-life ministry, shepherding and accountability and international ministry team. Now, if you were to compare this with the top 10, you'll say, well, what happened to this, what happened to that? Nothing's missing, but I think that it's more consolidation and kind of focus. We're going to zero in. You can say, where is the Deacon Family Ministry Plan? Well, you can easily find that in the shepherding an accountability aspect, it's there, but just defined this way. Now let's look at what we're hoping to see happen in these areas. I would love to see 10 times more than this happen, but what we put on this, on these pages, we feel are reasonable goals for our church, they're going to stretch us in some areas, but they're reasonable. We didn't put down that we want to see 3000 people baptized this upcoming year. That would be exciting, with some caveats there, I think it'd be exciting and tremendous upheaval, but it'd be thrilling and I would love it, but we didn't set that as a goal, frankly, that's not really for us to do. Rather, we set some other goals that I think are reasonable. Urban ministry growth, this initiative is coming right from those that are involved in this ministry, they need seven people to be involved in their once a night mentoring program. Is that an attainable goal in this church, do you think? I think so. And frankly, you're going to keep hearing about it until we have the seven people, and if we end up with 14, that's great, but we're going to get those seven folks. And it may be you, whoever you are, but God may be speaking to you saying, "I can do that, I can do once a night mentoring, I can take an inner city child and work with them in their school work and also lead them to Christ. I can be a spiritual figure to them, and I can do that." Initiatives #1 & #2: Urban Ministry Growth & Great Commission Giving So urban ministry growth. And if we see much more than that happen, I will be thrilled. Second, great commission giving, we're setting these goals. Annie Armstrong, $7500, Lottie Moon, $50,000, that's an increase of 50% over our goal, but we keep making this anyway, so let's set at this the goal and see it go up to $75,000 or even more. Frankly, we're praying through the idea of keeping Lottie Moon in front of you 12 months a year, so that we could see this goal really greatly exceeded. Now, you could say, what's the difference between Lottie Moon and the Global Priority Mission Fund? Well, Lottie Moon is our denominational missions, that's people that we know and others that we don't know who have gone out as Southern Baptist missionaries around the world, that is our commitment to support them, and we're thrilled about that. We are a Southern Baptist Church and we want to help. The Global Priority Mission Fund is for everything else that this church would like to do in terms of short-term missions, anything. We want to be involved in that, and the goal of $150,000 may seem ambitious, but frankly, we've seen that much come in this past year, and I'd like to see it happen again. Wouldn't you? I think it's exciting. So let's pray that God would. And out of that we're going to be ministering to parachurch groups, we're going to be ministering to many other missionaries that come, people that are involved in our church now that are going to be raising funds for their ministries, and you, as you go on short-term mission trips and need financial assistance. Initiative #3: Local Outreach Okay, third, local outreach initiatives, we want to continue targeted neighborhood outreach and we want to average 75 laborers for Sunday, so we're going to keep a record of how many people show up on Sunday afternoon, and not of names, that's between you and the Lord, and we know that you're not necessarily going to make every outreach. I am just not at all about guilt manipulation when it comes to evangelism, I'm just not. I want to keep speaking very positively about what God's going to do, to do this church, but I'm going to be praying and trusting that 75 laborers will show up on average over this upcoming year on Sunday afternoon outreach. Again, that's reasonable, we've seen that number once or twice, but that's not been a regular number, so that's going to stretch us a bit. And that we would have two targeted neighborhood Bible studies. That's what we'd like to see happening. And then as Stephen mentioned, we want to visit everybody that visits our church and fills out a visitor card, we want to call them on the phone Sunday night and visit them within the next 10 days, after they visited our church. That gives us two Wednesdays and a full week and another Wednesday beyond it, to visit them to set it up and go and just get to know them, perhaps lead him to Christ or talk to them about the church, whatever, that's a dual commitment. We're initiating with those that have no interest in our church, we're going to go reach out to them, and then we're going to be reaching out to those that have shown interest in our church by coming. That's outreach. Initiative #4: Corporate Prayer Life Corporate prayer life, two initiatives. We're going to be recruiting 24 people to serve bimonthly to pray through the Sunday morning worship. That's something that Landis Bonn started and others have joined with him. We're going to get a regular schedule and we're trusting God that 24 of you at least will step forward and say, "I'm willing to give up every other month, Sunday morning worship and just pray with a few brothers and sisters." We don't ever want to have less than three there, so that way, we don't ever need to worry about who's praying with whom or anything; gender, males, females, it doesn't matter. If we get three people, at least and more, we'll be fine, and so we're excited about that, and if you're interested in doing that, you can be part of just the power of the Lord through that time. And I've heard Landis has said, sometimes it's been better to be there than here and that's fine. I can't leave. Wouldn't that be odd if in the middle of sermon, I said, "I just really feel called to go there and join them in prayer, and I'm going to go do that.” But you have that freedom, and I think you ought to take advantage of it the more people we get, the less of a burden it is. And after a while, it's not even an issue of burden, it's that we're going to have eight to 10 more people. After a while, I think there'll be a limit to it, I'm going to urge that more people be here, but - I'm just kidding. But anyway, we want it, we want prayer and just, that's something, and as I mentioned, move quarterly corporate prayer to Sunday evening, 6 to 8. That'd be quarterly. So I think that's it. That's a winner. I think that's going to work well and people will be coming, it'll be one hour longer on the Sunday evening, but it's going to be a great time of prayer. Initiative #5: Pro-Life Ministry Pro-life, we're going to seek to take part in the Right to Life Chain. We're going to have, God-willing, a baby shower for pregnancy support services. We did this past year, grateful for those that got that going, but I'd like to see that embraced and really a success this year. We'd also like to see, especially on Sunday evening, bimonthly testimonies or reports focused on how you can get involved in the pro-life movement: Letters to the editor, political activism, counseling, being involved in PSS, whatever God's calling you to do. I want to keep that in front of the church. Initiative #6: Shepherding & Accountability Turn the page. Shepherding and accountability, these bullets. Deacon Family Ministry Plan, we're going to urge the deacons to contact all their people quarterly by phone, we're going to have deacons ask the four questions of people when they call. So we just want to keep those four questions in front of people, "I'm going to get tired of those four... " Don't be tired of them, these are good questions and just say, "How's it going for you? This is how it's going for me, we're just going to help each other in this area," this is what I think it means to watch over one another. New member assimilation: we're going to improve new member assimilation by following the New Member Plan, which is a very good plan, I think. And we just need to give a great assistance, especially to the key people in the New Member Assimilation Team that may feel over-burdened, we want to just help more and more with them, improve team communication. With Sunday school, we wanted to see what we can do to improve or increase oversight in caregiving accountability. Sunday school needs to also be a shepherding arm, and we want to see that more and more, and it is in many cases. I'd like to see that even better. The men's ministry, we want to see three Sunday morning breakfasts. We want to do another retreat and motivate men to foster discipleship relationships within the church, that's what we're seeking to do with men. And women's ministry, we want to help Heart To Heart be all that it can be. There are a number of women that have been very involved in that, it is a challenge and a burden to keep that going, and it's a joyful one, but we want to continue to see that ministry, which has been one of the big successes the last several years to continue to grow and to be spiritually fruitful. Initiative #7: International Ministry Team And then finally, International Ministry Team, the initiatives, establish a unique adult Sunday school department with a blend of international FBC members, committed to a relational ministry with internationals and transition to a more team-based ministry through the active involvement of international team and the ministry members away and form a more individualized ministry. So that's our goal is we want to see the I.M.T. work. Final Points Now, the next few pages, I'm just going to mention, I will not read through them, but I want to give you a sense of what we're already doing. Okay, so you have here, and this is going to be very useful for new members, if you think I'd like to get involved in this and that, we're going to give you as best we can, a contact person within the church. Now, if you're one of the contact people and you wonder why your name was there, please come see us, we really need to talk to you, but we did our best to assess what we think you folks are doing. Internal ministry, administrative church members, we define internal as ministry we do to ourselves, church members. External is ministry to non-church members and whatever, it's just broad definitions. Internally, we do preaching and teaching, discipleship ministries, corporate worship, corporate prayer, support ministries, comforting ministries and stewardship. Externally, we do local outreach, urban ministries, global missions, pro-life ministry, prison ministry, student ministry, and international ministry. That's a lot, isn't it? It really is, there's a lot going on. Turn the page and you'll see it's even bigger than you thought. There's a lot of things going on here. And it could be as we're praying through these things, we're going to see perhaps some consolidation, it could be that we're doing a lot of things and we need to zero in on some things. I don't know, but you see how every sub-category has a name and a phone number, and a way to contact somebody, almost everyone, I think there's still some missing gaps. And if you feel like God may be leading you to do it – now, look at that and if you have any questions, certainly come. But let me urge you, if you don't have a ministry, if you answer that, frankly, as I look at myself, over the last two months, I have not spent more than an hour or so doing anything for First Baptist other than just coming to worship, well, then pray about how you can have a ministry here. And there's a detailed list in these next few pages of things that we could do and are doing. There's also the initiative things that we just shared, pray about it. We will do the best we can, ministerial staff and the deacons will do the best they can, and the New Member Assimilation Team will do the best they can to marry you together to a good ministry, but ultimately the initiative is with you, find a ministry and do it.