Category: Penny Pulpit

Msg #1516 The Book of Books

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

The Book of Books is the greatest English literature ever written and banished from our government schools. Great literature contains a prologue and an epilogue. God's prologue is called the Pentateuch, and God's epilogue is called the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The theme of the whole Bible is Jesus Christ the righteous. The Old Testament is his 'Preparation', the four Gospels are his 'Manifestation', the Acts of the Apostles his 'Propagation', the twenty-one Epistles his 'Explanation', and the Revelation is his 'Culmination'. God's prologue is a most enlightening study. Genesis is man's creation in the image of God, and his fall from that position. It emphasizes man's depravity and oncoming perpetual punishment. But Noah found grace, Abram a calling, and Israel made his way into Egypt for 400 years. Exodus is redemption, tabernacling with God, and the law of God (given in 1492). Leviticus depicts the absolute righteousness of God and Numbers the deplorable failures of man to follow God. In Deuteronomy Moses, the great prophet, steps back and looks at the big picture to conclude that mankind needs the Great Prophet, Everlasting Priest, and Eternal King. In good literature everything in the body is introduced in the prologue and summarized in the epilogue. What a genuine theme! The preparation for the Messiah is made up of history, poetry and prophecy which declares “Thus saith the LORD.” But God's word to Moses is pretty emphatic, “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken… And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him” (Deut18:15,19). It is a limited offer: Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

An Essay for week #16 Apr 19, 15

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs150419.mp3

Tablet or phone at http://www.gsbaptistchurch.com/ppulpit/biblesays15.pdf

In blog http://www.theology.gsbaptistchurch.com

In paperback at www.lulu.com/spotlight/GSBaptistChurch

Msg #1513 This Week Know Your Friend

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Palm Sunday marks a Christian's calendar with an importance that disciples explore enthusiastically. For Israel, on the tenth day of Abib, the passover lamb was separated from the flock and watched until the fourteenth day of the month. It was to be without spot or blemish. Our Lord Jesus Christ was separated from the rest on Palm Sunday. He taught daily in the temple and prayed daily with his disciples. He purged the temple of money changers on Sunday and again on Monday. He wept over Jerusalem, and cursed a fig tree. He taught parables and his authority angered the Scribes and Pharisees. There was a widows mite, an Olivet discourse, and a friends betrayal. On the fourteenth day of the month they crucified him. He died as our Passover Lamb. In those days of examination Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Our friend walked through these four days in full public view. Each day and each event is carefully recorded for a disciple's study. Such detail is hidden from Rome. It cannot be seen by Protestants with Good Friday leftovers. But for the believers who reject her traditions and open his pages, there is wealth and wisdom about a friend which sticketh closer than a brother. Religionists go to a Roman Good Friday celebration, Bible students go to a midweek prayer meeting and remember the last supper in his presence. “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Pr 17:17). “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (18:24). “Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not” (27:10a).Let Jesus be your closest friend on this most precious week.

An Essay for week #13 Mar 29, 15

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs150329.mp3

Tablet or phone at http://www.gsbaptistchurch.com/ppulpit/biblesays15.pdf

In paperback at www.lulu.com/spotlight/GSBaptistChurch

Msg #1514 Resurrection After Three Days

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

“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” (1Cor15:3-4). TV-2 News announced last week that “some” Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead on Easter. To be accurate “ALL” Christians believe that 19 centuries ago, on the Sunday after Passover, the Christ arose from the dead. Believe less and you are not Christian at all. Most believe more. Some believe it all. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (John11:25-26). The gospel message of Christianity is, “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (not the second day as Rome contends): And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve” (1Cor15:3-5). Students of the Holy Bible know that the day after Passover was a sabbath day, and that sabbath days are not just on Saturdays. Again Jesus said, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt12:39, cf 16:4, Lu11:29). Luke 24:21 says, “and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.” Again, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19) Three days in the tomb is important to a Bible believer: not so much to Roman dogma or TV-2 news. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, makes three days.

An Essay for week #14 Apr 5, 15

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs150405.mp3

Tablet or phone at http://www.gsbaptistchurch.com/ppulpit/biblesays15.pdf

In blog http://www.theology.gsbaptistchurch.com

In paperback at www.lulu.com/spotlight/GSBaptistChurch

Msg #1510 Christ Our Perfect Passover Lamb

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Christians rarely give sufficient weight to God's portrait of the Passover Lamb. “…For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1Cor 5:7). Details of the Passover Lamb are given in Exodus 12; the commemoration feast in its honor in Leviticus 23 and Numbers 9. The Passover Lamb's blood, when applied in obedience, removed the condemnation of death from a house . “… when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you…” (Exod 12:13). The lamb was separated from the flocks on the 10^th of the month Abib; ours was on a Palm Sunday. It was kept out for five days to insure it was without blemish; ours was examined from Sunday to Thursday. On the 14^th of the month “the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening” (12:6); ours was slain on the 14^th, on an old rugged cross. The next day was a high holy day, a sabbath, with a holy “convocation,” i.e. assembling and reading, beginning a seven day feast of unleavened bread. When we apply his blood to the door post of our heart, we pass from death unto life, we enter into his sabbath rest, and we unite with his holy “convocation,” called a “Church,”i.e. a called out and assembled together body of believers. We purge out leaven as instructed in 1Cor 5:6-8. We forsake not the assembling of ourselves together on the first day of the week when God rose our Passover Lamb from the dead and made him our only mediator and High Priest. That is only a quick glance of God's portrait of a Passover Lamb. Dust off those 39 books of the Old Testament, they have a depth and resolution which can make your heart rejoice.

An Essay for week #10 Mar 8, 15

Msg not in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio

In Nook format at http://www.gsbaptistchurch.com/ppulpit/biblesays15.pdf

In paperback at www.lulu.com/spotlight/GSBaptistChurch

Msg #1512 Spiritual Warfare

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

In his first epistle, the Apostle Paul writes, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel.” There is still cause to marvel about that peril. When one gets born-again, under-the-blood, I-am-redeemed-saved the Holy Spirit of God indwells them and leads them into all truth. The believers at Galatia, however, had a more powerful leading which they readily followed; causing Paul to marvel. All religion misleads; it detracts from the grace of Christ. In Galatia the detractor was Judaism and works of the law. Today, predominately Romanism and works of penance, priests, and predestination. That leaven, the three “P”s of the corrupt Latin Vulgate, leavened into every Protestant denomination, and they ardently preach another gospel, which is not another. Infant baptism, confirmation classes, robed clergy with backward collars, yoga classes to improve Karma, Five pillars of Islam… all religion is in opposition to the grace of Christ. True Christianity is not progressive. A reformed denomination of the “Christian Religion” may adopt homosexual marriage while the world applauds their inclusiveness, but true Christianity is what Paul preached throughout all of the wicked city of Corinth in A.D. 60. “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures… Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.” (1Cor15:3-4,11) Again, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died FOR us” (Rom5:8) It is not religion, it is a relationship; only received by the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Flee apostasy, preach repentance.

An Essay for week #12 Mar 22, 15

A msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs150322.mp3

In Tablet format at http://www.gsbaptistchurch.com/ppulpit/biblesays15.pdf

In paperback at www.lulu.com/spotlight/GSBaptistChurch

Msg #1511 Christ Our Perfect High Priest

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Without the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ we would have no High Priest to atone for our sin, and no mediator to stand between us and God. I have heard a hundred sermons on the importance of the resurrection. For me all reasons pale before our need of a High Priest. When Christ, God incarnate, died as my Passover Lamb, he cried, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. Even though, at this point, he fulfilled the role of a Passover Lamb, i.e. he died “for” us, he had not yet purged our sins. The epistle to the Hebrews states, “When he had by himself purged our sins, (he) sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high” (Heb 1:3b). “It is finished,” applied to his role as our Passover Lamb; in his role as our high priest he had to take the Lamb's blood into the most holy place and sprinkle it on the ark of the covenant. There was a physical ark containing the covenant with Israel, but that ark was only made after the pattern of the one residing in heaven (Exod 25:9). The resurrected Christ took His blood to the actual throne of God and sprinkled it on the ark of the covenant. Recall how the resurrected Lord told Mary Magdalene, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father” (John 20:17). In like manner, the high priest was not to be touched as he brought the sacrificial atoning blood into the most holy place on the Day of Atonement. God did not put more into his Old Testament imagery than he could fulfill in his Only Begotten Son. When he purged our sin with his blood, he did it as our High Priest.

An Essay for week #11 Mar 15, 15

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs150315.mp3

In Tablet format at http://www.gsbaptistchurch.com/ppulpit/biblesays15.pdf

In paperback at www.lulu.com/spotlight/GSBaptistChurch

Msg #1534 They That Wait

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

A fellow beagle lover on a hunt told me, “Lock your beagle and your wife in your car trunk; come back in two hours and see which one is glad to see you!” That made some kinda weird sense to me until later my wife said, “That's because that beagle thinks you're a genius!” Now it makes more sense. Sophie, my beagle, sets on my feet as I write this so let me acknowledge that I am no genius, but it seems that when the Holy Spirit of God told the Apostle Paul not to go to Jerusalem, Paul was not supposed to go to Jerusalem. A few verses later, in Acts 21, a prophet of God told Paul not to go to Jerusalem. A few verses more and, with his stubborn jaw set and his teeth grit, the greatest preacher alive struts into Jerusalem. Once there, he follows the advice of the “well-intended”, and takes a set of Old Testament vows. He promises to offer an Old Testament animal offering for his sins! I am not a great preacher, or genius, but I am kinda glad God includes the details of Paul's blunder in his record keeping. Goodness knows I've needed lessons in submission. I've met some who think Paul could do no wrong, and was perfectly justified in his defiance of the Holy Ghost. Well, okay. God previously wrote by Paul's hand, “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Just the same that is not an excuse to lock your jaw and continue down some stupid stubborn course of action. God had a plan for those next eight epistles to get written. Paul's stubborn rebellion caused that they are called prison epistles.

An Essay for week #34 Aug 23, 2015

In blog http://www.theology.gsbaptistchurch.com

In paperback at www.lulu.com/spotlight/GSBaptistChurch

Msg #1520 When I See the Blood.

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

This week our evangelist taught that Christ is the focal point of Scripture, redemption is its theme, but the blood is the basis, or foundation upon which it all rests. “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spor to God, purge your conscience from dead works serve the living God? … and without the shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb9:13,14,22). “By his own blood … having obtained eternal redemption for us.” (verse 12). Exodus 12 details the passover lamb and declares, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (verse 13). The blood is your purchase price; “Ye are not your own… for ye are bought with a price” (1Cor6:19-20). Luke writes Paul's charge to “feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts20:28). You are purchased like a slave, bought from the slavery of sin; “Verily, verily, I say unto your, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin…. If the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed” (John8:34,36). The blood purchases forgiveness: “In (Jesus Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph1:7). The blood washes us clean, like a shower after hard labor in the hay field. “(Jesus Christ) that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev1:5). It is the blood that cleanseth us from all sin (1John1:7). “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood” (Rom3:25). His blood is indeed the basis for all that a Christian has. Praise His Holy name.

An Essay for week #20 May 17, 15

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs150517.mp3

In blog http://www.theology.gsbaptistchurch.com

In paperback at www.lulu.com/spotlight/GSBaptistChurch

Msg #1521 Seven No-Mores or Forevermores

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you”, and we say that heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. There is another prepared place, for in Matthew 25 he said to those gathered on his left hand in the judgment of nations, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” It is not a popular truth, but their everlasting fire is just as everlasting as our everlasting life. The saved are going to be snatched from this world in a resurrected body; “Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1Thes 4:18), but there is no comfort or Comforter for the lost soul; “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them… and they shall not escape” (1Thes 5:3). To the saved Jesus says, “Enter thou into the joy of the lord” (Matt 25:21b) but for the unsaved he declares, “cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”(Matt 25:30). For us, “In thy presence is fullness of joy… pleasure for evermore” (Psalm 16:11), for those in hell there is absence of joy, and pain forevermore. We will be in a place of beauty, a city foursquare with twelve gates, twelve foundations and streets of purest gold (Rev 21), they will be in a place of darkness with eternal fire and brimstone (Rev 21). We will be in an incorruptible body that has put on immortality (1Cor 15:54); they, “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:44, 46, 48) (Not in an NIV). In heaven there will be seven 'no-mores' (Rev 21:4, 25, 22:3). In hell seven 'forevermores' (Rev 21:8b). Whether saved or unsaved, you should carefully consider John 3:16-18 and 36.

An Essay for week #21 May 24, 15

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs150524.mp3

In blog http://www.theology.gsbaptistchurch.com

In paperback at www.lulu.com/spotlight/GSBaptistChurch

Msg #1531 What the Remnant Aint

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

After Jeremiah wrote to God's remnant, who were taken into Babylon as captives, he was approached by a group in Jerusalem who thought that they were the true remnant. They were quite mistaken. An unprecedented drama unfolds in Jeremiah chapter 42 through 44. This pseudo-remnant promises Jeremiah that they will do whatever “the LORD thy God may shew us.” Note first that it was not, “The LORD our God,” and second, they had no intention of obeying the LORD. Their heart was set on flight into Egypt, and the LORD God said, if you go, ye shall be an execration. Wow, that is an overpowering word, only used on this rebellious pseudo-remnant. It is worth dusting off your dictionary, and while it is open look up imprecation as well. Psalms 109, 40:14-15, 69:22-28, and 70:2-3 are called “Imprecatory Psalms” with reason, and that is not as powerful as an execration. This pseudo-remnant, following their women worship leaders, (44:15,20,24) refused the Word of God, rejected the prophet of God, despised the servant of God, and charged down into Egypt in defiance of God's command. His execration is so consuming that he says, “Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall be no more named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying the Lord GOD liveth” (Jer 44:26). That verse alone is justification to throw Codex Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, from Alexandria Egypt, right back into the trash can they were found in. While the trash lid is open toss in the Septuagint that Alexandria produced as well. Pray that the “scholars” who use these Egyptian products to “repair” God's Holy Bible are not an execration. The LORD is a jealous God, use the right Bible.

An Essay for week #31 Aug 2, 2015

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs150802.mp3

In blog http://www.theology.gsbaptistchurch.com

In paperback at www.lulu.com/spotlight/GSBaptistChurch