Msg #1802 God Save America

What The Bible Says – Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

When one hears “God bless America” the thought must rise “He has blessed America,” and hearing “God save America” should elicit “save her from her pride, her arrogance, and her pernicious, progressive ways.” Isaiah 25 succinctly promises that salvation, “Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth… therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee” (Isa 25:1,3). Democrats think they are the strength to the poor and down-trodden, Republicans suppose they are the strength of economic conservatives, but God says there is a vail over their understanding, a reprobate heart in their chest, “And he will destroy in this mountain (i.e. Zion, i.e. Jerusalem, where we properly place our Israeli embassy) the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations” (25:7). The salvation of a nation that preaches Evolution as their creator and god, sodomy as their alternate lifestyle, and murder in the womb as their privilege will first be a day of darkness, a terror-able day, the Day of the Lord. “He shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them… and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands” (Isa 25:11). Days are short in this January of 2018. The believer longs for his salvation because “He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth; for the LORD hath spoken it” (25:8). That upcoming “Earth Day” is in reality the upcoming “Day of the Lord.” “God bless America, God save America, but first save my children, save my family, save my neighbor.” Preach the gospel, the Lord is soon returning.

Msg #1802b Worship Canceled

What Your Pastor Says – Good Samaritan Baptist Church Pastor Ed Rice

Dear Member/Guest

The frozen water pipes from our two broke furnaces kept me from preaching what God had laid on my heart for the second Sunday of 2018. The attached Penny Pulpit must suffice for that, but God has other lessons for GSBC to take away from the cancellations. For those that gathered at 10 am and shared a song and a prayer, God blessed your short and stunned worship and gave safe travels in bitter cold. Thanks for not flushing.

For those alerted of the dilemma and averted from cold travels, God blessed you with a longing for Christian fellowship on a Lord's day, and an answer to your prayer. It was simply a reset on the oil burner, a new fuse on the gas furnace, and not a single pipe was broken.

For those to ill, or old, or hospitalized to tackle twelve degrees of cold we missed you, and prayed for you, knowing you missed us and prayed for us.

To those with no intention of attending this 2^nd worship service of 2018, the cancellation can still be a blessing because you hold this letter, and perhaps a new appreciation of the importance we place on our gathering with other believers on the first day of the week, the Lord's Day, the day God rose his Christ, our Lord, from death to life.

On the twentieth anniversary of my pastoring Good Samaritan Baptist Church I must say that this Sunday, with frozen pipes, the breath of saints visible in the cold air, and the singing of three verses of “Jesus Loves Me” was a memorable blessing. Be blessed, and I'll see you when the heat is back up.

 Pastor Rice

An Essay for week #2 Jan 14, 2018

Msg in audio at ww.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs180114.mp3

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Copyright © 2018 Good Samaritan Baptist Church, All Public Domain
A weekly 300 word essay- The Penny Pulpit

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Msg#1803 The Three Veils

What The Bible Says Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

The Bible reveals three veils that were removed because Christ gave his life for the remission of sin. The most familiar is found in Exodus 26, “And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet,… and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy” (vr. 31,33). The holy and sanctified were separated from the most holy presence of the LORD God himself and it is marvelous that that separation is rent in twain by the cross of Christ (Matt27:51, Mark15:38, Luke23:45). A second vail is found in Exod 34, “Behold the skin of his face shone and they were afraid and (Moses) gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai. And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. But when Moses went before the LORD to speak with him he took the vail off” (vr. 30,32-34). The Apostle Paul writes, “(Israeli) minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ… Seeing then we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech” (2Cor 3:14, 12). The Holy Bible is not veiled in Christ. The third vail covers the face as a maiden offers herself to her beloved. Rebekah shows it such in a beautiful picture in Genesis 24:64. Tamar shows it ugly, soiled, and polluted in 38:14,19. But the picture is redeemed forever in the Ruth 3:15. Most do not understand the song, “Sweet Beulah Land” (Isa 62:4), but a Christian is married to Christ, and like Ruth our vail is off and filled with six measures of barley to sustain us “until the morning.” Three beautiful portrayals.

An Essay for week #3 Jan 21, 2018

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs180121.mp3

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Copyright © 2018 Good Samaritan Baptist Church, All Public Domain
A weekly 300 word essay- The Penny Pulpit

Our mailing address is:
Good Samaritan Baptist Church

Msg #1814 Sinless Perfection – NOT

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

The Apostle John carefully dictates some principles to determine the authentic conversion of professed believers around us. They are the same as those used to self-authenticate ones own conversion, obedience of Christ's commandments, a holy walk, and an authentic love for the brethren. But when rehearsing these he seems to over emphasize, perhaps because one cannot know another's heart as one's own. In this profound emphasis for authenticating a new-birth a person should abide in Christ and NOT abiding in sin. 1John 3:9 is the capstone of that emphasis. Be careful with this verse, even though a dozen verses earlier John says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1:8). Many use 1John 3:9, taken out of context, to support errant teachings about sinless perfection. Like some take Nebuchadnezzar's tree, or Satan's pinnacle to suppose that the world is flat! And some even suppose that it was half-angel half-human giants that caused God to destroyed the world with a flood The half-breed angles are the problem, they say, not man's depravity! False teachers take a verse out of its context and develop a whole system of error around it. Acts 2:38 might suppose ones baptismal regeneration, but the rest of the Bible cannot support it. Use great care in your Bible study and great criticism of charismatic teachers. Be a Barean (Acts 17:10-11) with your Bible. Don't be led down a crooked garden path. It is painstakingly Scriptural and obvious that believers still sin, but we now have an advocate with the Father, and he is the propitiation for sin. The point being (for 1 John 3:9) true believers use that advocate and do not continue in sin,..Every man that hath this hope in him is truly changed.

An Essay for week #14 Apr 8, 2018

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs180408.mp3

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Copyright © 2018 Good Samaritan Baptist Church, All Public Domain
A weekly 300 word essay- The Penny Pulpit

Our mailing address is:
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Msg #1812 The Passover Lamb

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

The passover lamb was selected and separated from the flock on the tenth of the month, examined for three days to be found without spot, and then slain on the fourteenth day of the month (Exod 12). God carefully followed this calendar when our Passover Lamb was crucified on Mount Calvary. On that Palm Sunday he was separated from the flock with a cry “Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” He purged the temple that evening and again on the marrow after cursing a fig tree, and the Bible says of him, “And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives. And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, for to hear him” (Luke 21:37-38). To arrange that he be crucified on a Friday, fitting Roman Catholic tradition, scholars suppose Jesus took some time off and did nothing for one day, but those of us who can read God's calendar know that he was selected on the tenth and crucified on the fourteenth just like the 1,500 passover lambs before him. A Bible believer should study these last four days of the Christ's ministry with intrigue. They are addressed in Matthew 21-28, Mark 11-16, Luke 19-24, and John 12-21. (That's 30 of the 89 chapters of Gospel covering just the last week of Jesus' time on earth.) In these days of Church apostasy and compromised bibles it is important to study these days of his passion and resurrection for ourselves. Modernist ecumenical 'scholars' are not to be trusted with such a precious commodity. God bless your Easter Sunday worship.

An Essay for week #12 Mar 25, 2018

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs180325.mp3

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Copyright © 2018 Good Samaritan Baptist Church, All Public Domain
A weekly 300 word essay- The Penny Pulpit

Our mailing address is:
Good Samaritan Baptist Church

Msg #1813 A Victorious Resurrection and More

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

The Victory in Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is preceded by three important things and followed by three important things, none should be overlooked. His Vicarious Death is essential to our saving faith as heralded by Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” His Virtuous Life enabled him to be the Lamb of God, sacrificed for us, as proclaimed in 2Cor 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” and verified in Hebrews, “… yet without sin” (4:15, 9:28). Acknowledge also his Virgin Birth, he was not the son of a man, he was the Son of God (Luke 1:26-33). He was the “seed of woman” that would “bruise Satan's head” (Gen 3:15), and his Virgin Birth was a sign to all Israel that their Messiah had arrived to take away the sin of the world (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6). But there is even more to his victorious resurrection when we declare his Vital Message, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom 10:9). “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17). Further, he will have a Visible Return where every eye shall see him (Rev 1:7, 19:11-18). An honest Bible student also sees his Virtual Return at the rapture (1Thes 4:14-18). Then there is a 1,000 year Vibrant Reign from the Throne of David in Zion. Worship his Majesty in Spirit and in Truth (Ps 21:5,29:4, John 4:23, Jude 1:25).

An Essay for week #13 Apr 1, 2018

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Copyright © 2018 Good Samaritan Baptist Church, All Public Domain
A weekly 300 word essay- The Penny Pulpit

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Msg #1810 Is It Really Real

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes, that have been taught to “act” Christian without understanding “be” Christian. In his "My Little Children" epistle the first thing the beloved Apostle John lays out is a means for determining the fidelity of ones faith; “Hereby we know that we know him” (1John 2:3a). The first stabbing probe is pointed, “He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him” (verse 4). With John's clarification these are Christ's commandments, not Moses' ten (verses 5-8). This is a New Covenant in a New Dispensation that reprimands Covenant Theology and exposes Ellen G. White's chronic debacle. These probes are not designed to be thrust into a neighbor's heart or a loved-ones soul, they are intent on a self-examination. A second heart searching probe, “He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now” (verse 9). Again this is not a club used to beat on someone else's feigned faith, it is to cut and reach into our own soul. Then, like the third tine of a pitch fork, from the pen of a ninety year old preacher, “If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him” (verse 15b). Paul wrote to reprimanded carnal Christians, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves, how Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2Cor 13:5). The Apostle John gives us tools for that examination. In dealing with this Peter said to one Simon the Sorcerer, “Thy money perish with thee… for they heart is not right in the sight of God” (Acts 8:20,21). Be sure yours is, don't just “act” Christian.

An Essay for week #10 Mar 11, 2018

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs180311.mp3

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Copyright © 2018 Good Samaritan Baptist Church, All Public Domain
A weekly 300 word essay- The Penny Pulpit

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Msg #1809 All In the Family

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

That which was from the beginning, the Life of God that was manifested, the Light of God that shined in darkness, the Truth of God that talked with mankind, we have bold eyewitnesses who saw the Word of Life. “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1John 1:5). The beloved disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ is a bold eyewitness and the extraordinary author in our focus, and the little letter he addressed to “my little children” captures our study. In introduction he emphasizes the fellowship that we now have with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. In raw simplicity fellowship has been called “two fellows in the same ship,” but a study of this little epistle will add depth and reality to that simplicity; we are family in this relationship, and family in Light will behave in a prescribed manner. The Reformed Protestant theologian explains that when one gets saved (confirmed, they suppose) they become part of the catholic church. Protestants broke from the Romans so they now suppose that the catholic church is an invisible organization with 365 denominations and no organization. That's kind of awkward so they dare not say it out loud that much. In reality when one gets saved they become sons of God and are added to the family. John's precious first epistle is all about fellowship of family. “In him is no darkness at all” will deal with the question, “Are you truly in the family?” “If we confess our sins” will deal with any broken fellowship within the family. John's introduction promises a great understanding for “my little children;” if that is what you are, you'll love this epistle.

An Essay for week #9 Mar 4, 2018

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs180304.mp3

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Copyright © 2018 Good Samaritan Baptist Church, All Public Domain
A weekly 300 word essay- The Penny Pulpit

Our mailing address is:
Good Samaritan Baptist Church

Msg #1808 John's First Epistle

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

The disciple that Jesus loved wrote five books in our Bible and the letter he aimed at Gentile believers is unprecedented in beauty and power. The Apostle John was commissioned by Christ to “write the things which thou hast seen.” He did so with a very careful consideration of his audience. His gospel was written to all people, his first epistle was written to Gentile believers, his second to Jewish believers (“the elder unto the elect lady and her children,whom I love in the Lord) (Notice that Catholic, Protestant and Reformed theologians suppose that they are the “elect-lady” and consequently they miss the heart of this little epistle, … they generally miss the heart of Scripture altogether with that same self-righteous blunder), and John's third epistle was to a man named Gaius. John's carefulness to identify his audience is only one characteristic that makes him a superb writer. He refers to himself in the third person and glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ with every syllable. John was a disciple before Christ had disciples. Most people miss that John was the “other-disciple” when John the Baptist sent his two loyal disciples off to follow Jesus. (John 1:35-37). The Apostle John was thus the very first of the disciples at Christ's side. It takes a talented writer to capture a good introduction and conclusion, and a superb author to make them a prologue and epilogue. John is thus a superb writer in his own right, and when the Holy Spirit is dictating the very words that he records, well, undertaking the study of John's first epistle will make for an interesting adventure. Reading any of the Apostle John's works is equally so. John begins this epistle with his prologue addressing everything found in the body of the work. Let us begin there.

An Essay for week #8 Feb 25, 2018

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs180225.mp3

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Copyright © 2018 Good Samaritan Baptist Church, All Public Domain
A weekly 300 word essay- The Penny Pulpit

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Msg #1807 Children Killing Children

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

America has “evolved” to a place where a significant number of our children, raised with no nurture and admonition of the Lord Jesus Christ, are psychotic, first degree murders. Recall that the first man born in this world became the first first-degree murderer. Our depraved society uses statistical studies to show that capital-punishment does not deter crime, but God says to Israel, “And all men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear” (Deut 21:21). Also society, in its rebellion against our Creator, uses statistical surveys to show that corporal-punishment in the home is “uncivil.” Indeed they have, and will again, used social services to “rescue” children from corporal-punishment used in Christian homes. The LORD God says in Holy Scripture, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes…. Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying…. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him…. Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell…. The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame…. Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul” (Proverbs 13:24,19:18,22:15,23:13-14,29:15,17). Our sick society says it is evolving, on a progressive path, they say, moving away from the things of God. Ugly fruit of that “progressiveness” is children killing children, and a blindness that makes them blame the AR-15. God, Help us.

An Essay for week #7 Feb 18, 2018

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs180218.mp3

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Copyright © 2018 Good Samaritan Baptist Church, All Public Domain
A weekly 300 word essay- The Penny Pulpit

Our mailing address is:
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Msg#1804 Rebekah

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

This year we have discussed the book of Job wherein the trials of our lives, no matter how great are not worthy to be compared to the greatness of our God, and the importance of his glory, and his glorying. We are to trust him, no matter what besets us in our pilgrimage here. We have walked to Egypt with Joseph, the late coming beloved son of Israel, who was rejected by his own brothers, and scorned by the world, but raised up to be their salvation, raised up to reign over them all. We have a marvelous Christ who would do no less. Prior we climbed Mount Moriah with Abraham and Isaac to watch a father offer his son, “thine only son Isaac,” on a hill shaped like a skull, called Golgatha in Aramaic, Cranium in Greek, Calvary in Latin, Precious in Salvation. It now comes as no surprise that when God preserves sixty-seven verses to describe how Abraham's eldest servant is sent with his ten camels to secure Rebekah as a cherished wife for his only begotten son, … well God has a much grander story to tell in the picture. The Father, played by Abraham, sends his Holy Spirit, played by the eldest servant, carried by kneeling saints, played by ten camels made to kneel by the well, to secure a chaste virgin, played by Rebekah, for his Only Begotten Son, played by Isaac waiting by the well, called, incidently, Lahai-roi (for all those Hebrew language buffs). We should all read Genesis 24 with more tender care. Valentines Day is just around the corner and this is the most precious of love stories. In Rebekah's wooing every little detail, painted and preserved for 3,875 years, is extremely important to God; so too to his Son's chaste virgin.

An Essay for week #4 Jan 28, 2018

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs180128.mp3

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Copyright © 2018 Good Samaritan Baptist Church, All Public Domain
A weekly 300 word essay- The Penny Pulpit

Our mailing address is:
Good Samaritan Baptist Church