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

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

Jack Frasure Hyles (September 25, 1926 -- February 6, 2001) was a leading figure in the Independent Baptist movement, having pastored the First Baptist Church of Hammond in Hammond, Indiana, from 1959 until his death. He was also well-known for being

Jack Frasure Hyles (September 25, 1926 -- February 6, 2001) was a leading figure in the Independent Baptist movement, having pastored the First Baptist Churc...

To read article based on this message click below: www.oldpathschristianity.com Jack Frasure Hyles (September 25, 1926 -- February 6, 2001) was a leading figure in the Independent Baptist movement, having pastored the First Baptist Church of Hammond in

To read article based on this message click below: www.oldpathschristianity.com Jack Frasure Hyles (September 25, 1926 -- February 6, 2001) was a leading figure in the Independent Baptist movement, having pastored the First Baptist Church of Hammond in

Jack Frasure Hyles (September 25, 1926 -- February 6, 2001) was a leading figure in the Independent Baptist movement, having pastored the First Baptist Church of Hammond in Hammond, Indiana, from 1959 until his death. He was also well-known for being

I have always done the typical thing of dividing missions into two categories, as do most people--foreign missions and home missions. However, in the past year, I have ceased to do that. My main reason for doing so arises from an honest evaluation of the true condition of our own nation, the United States of America. We cannot afford to continue treating our nation as a thoroughly evangelized entity in which there is a need for some few "home mission" projects. Indeed, the USA is now one of the most unevangelized nations in the world. The USA is the third largest nation in the world now. China is the largest. India is second. But, our 300,000,000 plus population brings us in at third place. Additionally, our growth is so phenomenal that by 2050 we are projected to be half again larger--coming in at 450,000,000 people. That is close to half a billion.But, consider that at present there are approximately 11,000 independent Baptist churches, and consider the true state of those churches when it comes to zeal, purity, and influence, and you must conclude that the USA is truly unevangelized. I believe that perpetuating the "home" versus "foreign" labels we use in missions fails to take this fact into consideration. Our independent Baptist churches are mostly white, mostly suburban or rural, and mostly middle class. Vast populations of our land are ignored completely in the discussion. The urgency to "reseed" America is undervalued. To me, missions is just missions--near to home or far away. "The mission field has come to us," we say. Okay, if that is true, then let us start thinking that way. It is all simply missions--no further designation is necessary.  My thoughts, Norman Johnston Norman Johnston is a missions professor at Ambassador Baptist College and an active member of the Aletheia Project.  The Alethia Project is an organization whose goal is to to use the Internet to reach non-English speaking people with the Gospel. For more information about the Aletheia Project please visit their website at http://www.aletheiaproject.com.

At work lately, I've noticed a lot of complaining.  Soldiers are complaining about the work load, the hours, the conditions or the way that we are treated but they are always complaining about something.  Some of the guys are extremely vocal about it and, as a result, it becomes contagious.  Just the other day, I found myself complaining about some things at work.  I was pouring an earful of whine to a few other soldiers and to my sergeant.  Most of the guys were right on the same page as me...except for one.  My sergeant turned to me and said, "Whenever I think about how bad it is here in the Old Guard (the unit I'm stationed in) I always think about how glad I am that I'm not in Iraq any more.  The guys over there have it a whole lot worse than we do.  Just ask your brother." He knew what he was talking about and he was exactly right.  Before coming to the Old Guard, he had served two combat tours in Iraq.  He had seen his share of hard times during his time at war.  And he was right also about my brother.  My brother brought a purple heart back from Iraq.  His tank had been hit by an armor piercing rocket-propelled grenade.  Unlike the interpretor sitting in there with him, he was fortunate enough to live through the attack, but with a lot of pain. My sergeant was right that they certainly had it a lot worse than we do.  His mention of my brother was the perfect testament to how pathetic my complaints were. People are prone to whining.  I've worked several jobs, including the military, and every place that I have ever been employed has been plagued with complaining.  Every school that I have ever attended has been stacked with gripers.  No matter how good the conditions are, people always complain.  And just last week, I found myself falling into that same pit.  I might as well have laid on the ground and threw my arms up and down while screaming.  I was acting as mature as a little kid. As I began to think about the important lesson that my sergeant had brought to my mind, I realized that most Christians show the same grumbling immaturaty.  We go to God in prayer and spend so long complaining about our rights being stepped on by the liberal government and spend so little time thanking Him that we are not being tied up in the colleseum to be entertainment for the masses as lions or tigers rip our limbs from their sockets.  We complain to God that our nation is being destroyed as taxes are increased instead of praising Him that we are not being dragged to the edge of the city and being stoned for mentioning his name as Stephen was. I'm sharing with you firsthand that I need to grow in this area.  I need to mature and get over my circumstances and enjoy the great blessings that God let's me have.  I need to be more thankful and more filled with praise to my great God. Come on, friends.  How about we grow together in this? In Christ, Nicholas Z. Cardot Nicholas Cardot is the founder and Chief Executive Visionary for the Baptist Muse.  He is a graduate of Commonwealth Baptist College who is currently serving as a United States Army Infantryman.  He started the Baptist Muse after getting frustrated with the lack of Independent Baptist material available online and because he had a vision of an online Baptist community that would bring together Christians from around the world to encourage and challenge one another to live for Christ with more passion and zeal.

"Issues and the Bible" is a five minute podcast produced and published weekly by Emmanuel Independent Baptist Church. Current issues are discussed within the context of the Bible.

Welcome to the Baptist Muse! We're thrilled to have you join us, and we hope you're excited to be a member of one of the most energetic Baptist communities on the web. As we continue to grow our site, we are constantly looking for ways to attract new users and to get our current users more involved. To support that effort, we have launched a campaign where you can earn points and rewards for your involvement in our community. Starting on April 1st and continuing through the duration of the month April, your participation at the Baptist Muse can earn you points towards cash and prizes! Points are added automatically to your account upon completion of each task. Be sure to check back periodically as we will be adding more and more items to this list.If you are a winner at the end of the month, be sure to contact us immediately with your mailing address and your choice of preferred gift card! (e.g. Wal-mart, Amazon, Target, etc.) This competition will end at midnight April 31, 2009. At that time, the users with the most points will be rewarded with the following prizes: The first place winner will be taking home a $40.00 gift certificate to any one of the following stores or restaurants: Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, Target, Wal-Mart, plus many more! In fact, if you are the winner, you choose any store you like and if they offer gift cards, we'll get you one! The second place winner will be taking home a $10.00 gift certificate to any one of the following stores or restaurants: Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, Target, Wal-Mart, plus many more! In fact, if you are the winner, you choose any store you like and if they offer gift cards, we'll get you one! The third place winner will be awarded a very congratulatory slap on the back and great big "job well done." We'll tell you how much we appreciate you and then we'll send you on your way! I guess what we're saying is that you'll be an honorable mention. Help get the word out about the Baptist Muse!  You will recieve 1 point per word for a total of a maximum of 500 points for writing and posting an article about the Baptist Muse at your website or blog.  Once you've written it, just leave a comment below letting us know about it then we'll jump in and add a bunch of points to your account!  We're just gonna copy your article into Microsoft Word and let it count the words for us.  Just make sure that you include a Baptist Muse Banner in your article.  There must be a banner to recieve credit.  You can select a banner for your article by visiting the "Link Here" page.  Limit 1 Per Account. Click Here to Use Our 'Invite a Friend' Feature. You will receive 100 points every time someone who you invited registers and becomes a member here at the Baptist Muse. This is the highest valued achievement, so get out there and invite some friends. Note: You must use our 'Invite a Friend' feature to receive credit. Click Here to Sign Up! If you are not yet a member at the Baptist Muse, one of the most exciting Independent, Fundamental Baptist Communities available online, there has never been a better time to join! Sign up today and receive 50 points toward this months competition just for joining. We are always looking for engaging content to post over at our blog. If you submit an article, we will reward you with 50 points. Be sure to contact us first so that we can change your account status to author and give you instructions on how to post your articles. On almost every section of this website there are located forms where you can leave comments. You can comment on the blog, on the resources, on just about everything. Each comment is worth 25 points. Note: You must be logged in for your comment to count for points & this does not include comments on the forum. Click Here to Purchase Points. In order to finance the upkeep of the site including server space, domain name registration, advertising, and the awards for this very competitions, we allow donations from users. Each dollar donated is worth 25 points. Click Here to Use Our 'Invite a Friend' Feature. You can even import email addresses directly from your email contact list with Yahoo!, Google, and others. Receive 20 points for every friend you send an invitation to and 100 for every friend that signs up. Note: You must use our 'Invite a Friend' feature to receive credit. Scattered throughout this site are several polls covering various topics. Browse through the site to find these surveys and submit your answers to receive 20 points per poll. Note: Each poll can be answered once per day! Every time that you create a new topic in the forums section of this website, you will be rewarded with ten points. If your checking your point count then don't get confused, the 10 points will show up in two parts. Five points will show up in the form of a new topic and five points will show up in the form of a new post. Okay, so you already login everyday? Perfect. Now get rewarded for it. Every day that you login to your account will bring you another 10 points closer to becoming our champion!  See, isn't it nice to be rewarded for what you're already doing? The forum is one of the hottest sections of the Baptist Muse. There's always a discussion, debate, or praise for you to jump in and be a part of. And now, every time you join in, you get 5 points!  With all of the conversations and fun going on in the forums this will be one of the easiest ways to build your points fast.  So come on...what are you waiting for?

"This know also..." Paul's words to Timothy (and to the Church), describing the perilous times to come, were not just a warning to turn away from these characteristics, but to turn away from those who portray or embody them as well. To any child of God it is obvious that these characteristics absolutely define the times we live in now. There is no place in history where these things have been so utterly fulfilled as to the point where they seem to be overflowing and ready to explode, as today. If fallen, sinful man is a vessel for these things, I cannot imagine how he could hold any more of it. Even the world's heroes, icons, leaders and entertainers manage to glorify and justify these things to those who follow them. Simply turn on your tv, or walk through a bookstore, or go to a university campus, or even sit down to dine at a local restaurant. These characteristics are pervasive, invasive, and almost overpowering. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." ~ 2 Timothy 3:1-5These verses were read from the pulpit a few weeks ago, and I was suddenly struck by the following understanding:Turn away from people who love themselves.Turn away from people who are covetous.Turn away from people who boast.Turn away from people who are proud.Turn away from people who are blasphemers.Turn away from people who are disobedient to their parents.Turn away from people who are unthankful.Turn away from people who are unholy.Turn away from people who are without natural affection.Turn away from people who are truce breakers.Turn away from people who are false accusers.Turn away from people who are incontinent.Turn away from people who are fierce.Turn away from people who despise others who are good.Turn away from people who are traitors.Turn away from people who are highminded.Turn away from people who love pleasure more than they love God.But this is nothing new. What I am writing has been written many, many times before. So why write about it now? For personal reasons. I write about this now to share my convictions with you. I've heard this passage before, but this was the first time I thought to apply that last phrase from verse 5 to each of these characteristics of the last days. I have only just realized the scope of the words "...from such turn away". This resonated through me during the service when I heard it. Why? Because I don't always turn away from these things. How? Every time I allow myself to be "entertained" by this world's media. Am I so prideful and self-assured as to think that I can somehow filter out this garbage from the things I let into my home, in the form of "entertainment"? Why would I ignore this warning before? When I watch a program that I may even deem as "innocent," yet plainly it contains some element of the characteristics from 2 Timothy 3:1-5, why do I not turn away? Why have I been so prideful for so long, thinking that I could pick and choose which parts of the Bible I want to ignore because they infringe upon my use of time, and the lusts of my flesh? Why do I turn away from only a few of these things: the ones that are gratuitous, glaring, outwardly dangerous, and avoidable? Why not all of them? Am I in less need than Timothy of this prophetic warning? Do I know more than Paul? Does my confidence in my flesh outweigh my fear of God, who breathed these words into existence? These are perilous times today. Timothy saw a vision of the future through the apostle Paul's words that was comparable only to the days of Noah. Now, in the nearness of the extent of their fulfillment, do I heed them? Or do I obey the flesh? "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." ~ Romans 13:14Make no provision for the flesh. There is my answer. And to what end? Obedience to my Lord and Master; glory to God the Father; separation from the world; and the edification of God's saints - my brothers and sisters in Christ.Able to write to you by the grace of God,Aaron EveringhamRomans 12:1,2Aaron Everingham and his wife Brittany live in Edmonton, Canada, and by the loving grace of God they were saved through the ministry of an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church in June of 2007.  He is currently preparing for a life of serving the Lord as a pastor of a local New Testament Baptist Church.  For more articles like this one please visit his blog at Aharown Qadowsh.