Category: Penny Pulpit

Msg #1416 You Gotta Love Easter

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

“This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, it shall be the first month of the year for you… Your lamb shall be without blemish… and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.” (Exod 12) When Jesus of Nazareth was crucified on the fourteenth day of the Hebrew month Abib, later called Nissan, the only begotten Lamb of God became our Passover Lamb. Three days after that crucifixion when he rose victorious over death, he became our High Priest. There is only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (ITim2:5) The world tries to drown out this truth with Cadbury eggs from clucking bunnies. Religionists with robes and backward collars assist with annual Easter egg hunts. But the truth remains “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Despite the grand cover up, regardless of the compromised clergy, Jesus, the way the truth and the life, is the True Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9) He judges and tries the reins and the heart. (Jer 11:20) All know his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. (Rom 1:20) Easter is a time when the resurrection of Christ is rubbed into an unbelievers knowledge of God. It can make them uncomfortable. His witnesses can use Easter to touch loved ones and neighbors with the Words of God which are sharper than any two edged sword. Christ the Lord is risen today, Allelulea. Sons of men and angels say, Allelulea. Believers love Easter. We need to learn to use it better.

An Essay for week #16 04/20/2014

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Msg #1414 Great Deception and The Hand of God

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Isaiah records national actions and reactions with God's eye. National judgments are recorded for a spectra of nations, two with Godly heritage. These are full scale models of nationalistic behaviors, and the USofA is presently following the second best model, Israel. Mind you, the best of the best, Judah, has its flaws and ends in captivity. With all the Godly heritage and founding, a miraculous redemption from the world, and established as a God fearing nation with laws and constitution, one would expect that she follow justice, truth, and Jehovah God. Yet before 300 years, the whole head was sick. (cf Isa.1:5) “Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries… and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.” (Isa 9:11-13) In this chapter, and in this model, things turn out bad for Israel's rebellion. It is a mirror for America. They say we have no Creator, just two rocks in a primeval sea doing spontaneous generation! The masses believe them! They say we have no Judge bringing calamity to smite our land, it is caused by “Global Warming” from our burning fossil fuels and breathing out CO₂! The masses believe them! They outlaw light bulbs, shut down coal plants, and pursue “Green Energy” as their lord and savior. “Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened… For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.” (vr. 19,21) This message is not to the deceived masses, they are quite deceived. God says instead, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves.”

An Essay for week #14 04/06/2014

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In audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs140406.mp3

Msg #1415 Your Alabaster Box

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Jesus' last walk to Jerusalem is wrought with drama, Pharisees and lepers, Lawyers and blind men, Scribes and short publicans climbing trees. Not to mention disciples fighting over their greatness as they chased little children away from their Lord! The trip culminates with the two high drama events of John 12. The only one who really understood why Jesus was come to Jerusalem was Mary who once again anointed him with an ointment from an alabaster box. She was forgiven much, and she loved much. She also had a relationship with her Lord and Saviour. A relationship found lacking in the 12 disciples. Even today it is only a few who comprehend the importance of the Christ's selection on that Palm Sunday. The Passover Lamb anointed by Mary six days before Passover was, on the 10^th of Abib, four days before Passover, exactly as recorded in Exodus 12, separated from the other sheep with the cries of the crowd. Their cries of “Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest,” (Matt 21:9) were soon followed with the question, “Who is this?” (Matt 21:10) Then after four of the most recorded days in human history, the same crowd cried “Crucify him!” It behooves a believer to study this trip, this week, and that relationship with great vigor. Set aside all Roman and Reformed theology and study him in the events of this week. Therein one can find a relationship akin to what Mary had. It is a rare thing in “Christianity” today, it was then. It is worth falling in love anew with the Passover Lamb. Let this Easter be one where your alabaster box is broken, and your expensive ointment is poured out.

An Essay for week #15 04/13/2014

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Msg #1413 The Hobby Lobby Battle is The Lords.

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice 

Conception involves three entities coming together. As immorality devours the thought and intents of American society and “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” a Bible believer needs to be very specific in this understanding. An egg and a sperm in a “test-tube” or a fallopian-tube, without a receptive womb, does not constitute conception. Only the fertile egg cleaving to the womb constitutes conception, wherein another human is formed. In a moral society that little individual has certain inalienable rights and protections. Any purposeful separation of the human life from its sustenance of life is thus immoral. The Hobby Lobby and the Amish Furniture Factory is not contesting religious rights as much as they are contesting a humanist government that would force them to partake in an immoral act. Christians are to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you. (1Pet 3:15) We have no exception for this particular issue. We need to be even the more clear after Roman ideas have muddied the water around the truth. It is not a “religious” issue. It is a moral truth. A truth, not just because of God's Text, but because of the obvious Biology Text as well. With Obama in power and the ACLU lawyers emboldened, Christians face waves of attacks against their freedom. Jehoshaphat, a king no stranger to compromised righteousness, prayed, “O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.” (2Chron 20:12) You gotta love God's response. “Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. (vr.15b) 

An Essay for week #13 03/30/2014

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Msg #1423 Unjust Stewards, Mammon, Law and Grace.

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice 

    Luke chapter 16 is unique out of all the chapter outlines of Scripture. It curiously leads with a strange parable addressed to his disciples. An unjust steward, was caught wasting his masters goods was to be fired. For his own gain, he entreated his lord's debtors mercifully, to where even his master commended the unjust steward for his genius. Generally parables have only one major truth that is being emphasized, this one has four called out. 1) The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. God does not expect Christians to use the methods of the world, but to at least have the savvy of the world. 2) Use the mammon of unrighteousness to make to yourselves friends. If you have a Ranger Bass boat, use it for eternal purposes, use it to be a gospel witness. 3) Be faithful in that which is least. Some of us do not have a Ranger Bass boat, nonetheless… 4) No servant can serve two masters. Daily, be certain who your master is, … with all your heart, soul and mind. Aimed at disciples, this parable did not set well with the covetous Pharisees, and they derided him. In this chapter Jesus rebukes them and their “letter-of-the-law” mentality. The law and the prophets are being replaced, more exactly “fulfilled”, by the incoming kingdom of God that Jesus preached. Two notes; Luke 16:18 is not Jesus' teaching on divorce, it is his illustration of the harsh exactness of the law, in contrast to the supreme grace found in the kingdom of God. Also, the accounting of the certain rich man and of Lazarus given in the close of this chapter, is the capstone of the truths presented in this chapter. Rereading Luke 16 is beneficial. 

An Essay for week #23 06/08/2014

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Msg #1437 The Faith of a Friend

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Abram, the friend of God, believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness, but he never even came to know God by his first name. It is not that the LORD did not reveal his proper name to Abram, “I am the LORD” (Gen15:7, Exod 6:2). God said it to Abram and to Moses. But he also told Moses, “And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH (LORD) was I not known to them” (Exod 6:3). Bible believers are conservatives who despise progressive ideas. Progressive Liberals trust Karl Marx's doctrine that capitalism must progress to socialism, then evolve to communism. Just the same, God uses progressive revelation to reveal himself and all his plans to man. Today we have all 66 books, and know God's first name, but don't have all the faith that Abram displayed. Genesis 15 is interesting because God says to Abram “I am the LORD,” and Abram does not get it. Even though Abram missed a lot, what he did get he thoroughly believed. That pleased God. God tells Abram all his plans for all Abram's seed. He passes through an exotic multifaceted sacrifice with him. He appeared to him as a smoking furnace and a burning lamp (15:17). Much later Ezekiel gave a more progressive picture of God's mobile presence, it was a glowing wheel in the middle of a wheel. There was more revealed to Abram than he could take in, but he believed everything he could comprehend. Thus, he is called the father of faith, and the friend of God. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen… without faith it is impossible to please him” (Heb11:1,6) Be His friend.

An Essay for week #37 09/14/2014

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Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs140914.mp3

View Thesis “Reformed Theology NOT” at www.Theology.GSBaptistChurch.com

Msg #1424 Fathers and Sons

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Paul writes, ”To… my dearly beloved son,” and captures the whole spirit of fatherhood in his second letter to Timothy. As a father figure to Timothy, Paul is steadfast and unmovable. He encourages his son to be the same. Fathers need to be certain about some things. In his salutation, Paul was certain about his calling, certain about his promise of eternal life, and certain about his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ (2Tim 1:1) Fathers also need to have an occupation, and that needs to include their sons. In the same salutation, Paul says, “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy; When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee…” Paul not only had an occupation, he had a pre-occupation! His pre-occupation included his son, to where he understood what his son was doing, what his son was feeling, and what his son was going through. Every father could learn something from Paul’s relationship with Timothy. A son is always on a quest to fill the expectations of a father or a father figure. Paul uses great wisdom in this letter. He subtly lets Timothy know that as a son he has met every expectation and fulfilled every charge that Paul had for him. Now Timothy only needed to “hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” (1:13) And so Paul, again, gives his son this charge. Would to God that we could communicate so wisely, and secure such a powerful relationship with our sons.

An Essay for week #24 06/15/2014

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Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs140615.mp3

Msg #1435 Sanctification and Friendship

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

“Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends” (John 15:15), a friend of God. A son of Eber obeyed God and set out looking “for a city which hath foundation, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb 11) When he crossed over one Jordan River, his path took him to friendship with God. It is a path worthy of our consideration. “Hebrew” defined, are son's of Eber, ones from beyond, who multiplied in God's blessing. They were given the oracles of God which give Abram's account. Genesis 13 details Abram's second step towards this friendship, he had to separate from things before he could have an association with God. The Hebrew tongue has a word for association, it is Hebron, which is where Abram was camped in the last verse of this chapter. The chapter opens with Abram camped between the house of God (Hbrw- Bethel) and a heap of ruin (Hbrw- Hai) and it details his separation from his kindred (Lot), his kindred's wealth, aspirations, and evil eye. The Bible says Lot had a righteous soul, (2Pet 2:7-8) but God was pleased when Abram separated himself from Lot's pernicious way. When walking toward God one needs separation from the world, but sometimes we need to separate from believers in their error. Even a believer can operate like a wolf in sheep's clothing, doing great harm to the cause of Christ. Even though Lot was a believer, family, and companion, when Abram separated from him, God expanded Abram's promise, and led him to the plain of strength and fatness (Hbrw- Mamre). There God reestablished his association. (Hbrw- Hebron). Sanctified means separated unto God, and sanctification is an essential to friendship with God.

An Essay for week #35 08/31/2014

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Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs140831.mp3

“Reformed Theology Is Not A Biblical Theology ” found at http://www.gsbaptistchurch.com/seminary/master_thesis/thesis_reformed.pdf

Msg #1433 LORD, Shepherd, Lord and Christ

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” The psalmist and shepherd, King David, writes some things about Jehovah God which are so eternal that twenty elder lips whispered them in unison in a nursing home in upstate New York. That is three thousand and thirty years after the psalmist wrote. The six sentences penned in the Twenty Third Psalm have been memorized by more humans than any declaration in the history of humanity. The present tense and indicative mood of “be” is “is.” It is not that the LORD, with all caps, “was” my shepherd, nor that the LORD, the most personal and revered name of Jehovah God, “will soon be” my shepherd. It is the present tense, absolutely assured form of “be.” The LORD is, presently, right now, an assured possession in a positive relationship, my shepherd. Jesus, who was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth, took the acclaimed name of Jehovah God, “I Am”, and declared, “I am the good Shepherd” (John10:11). Three hundred years after the psalmist's pen, the Prophet Isaiah wrote, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD (all caps) hath laid on him (his wounded, bruised despised servant (vr3n5)) the iniquity of us all” (Isa53:6).Seven hundred and eighty odd years later an old fisherman, who had set aside nets and become a fisher of men, wrote it this way, “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” (1Pet2:25) Today the blood bought and born-again can say with the assurance of the psalmist, “The LORD is my Shepherd.” Others, not-so-much.

An Essay for week #33 08/17/2014

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Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs140817.mp3

“REFORMED THEOLOGY IS NOT A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY ” found at http://www.gsbaptistchurch.com/seminary/master_thesis/thesis_reformed.pdf

Msg #1434 Being a Friend of God

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Three Bible characters were called the friend of God. In Genesis 12 Abram walks onto the page of our Bible to be the first. “But thou Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend” (Isa 41:8, cf 2Chron 20:7, James 2:23). Jesus told his disciples “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). Thirty seven hundred years ago God carefully recorded details of Abram's walk into friendship. It is for our benefit. Abram, who never even got to know God by his “first-name” (Exod 6:3) had a tough row to hoe. He started his journey with great promise, partial obedience, crippled faith, and no trust. God “had said” (past tense) to get out from kindred (11:31), but Abram took them with him. God said “I will give this land,” but a famine scared Abram into Egypt. God said “I will make of thee a great nation” (12:2), and Abram said, “The Egyptians will kill me” (12:12). The inspired, inerrant word of God is profitable for correction, to keep us on track, and for reproof to get us off a wrong track. Abram had to come all the way back to an altar he had built to get back on the right track. That altar, the Bible is specific, was east of Bethel and west of Hai. Neither city had been founded yet, but the meaning is east of the “house of God” and west of the “heap of ruin.” God was so tender with Abram, and he is with us. A friend's reproofs are necessary, learn from them, Abram did.

An Essay for week #34 08/24/2014

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Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs140824.mp3

“Reformed Theology Is Not A Biblical Theology ” found at http://www.gsbaptistchurch.com/seminary/master_thesis/thesis_reformed.pdf