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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

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

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

"And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David? For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The ...

Jesus on The Cross PT 3 www.IslandFordBaptistChurch.Com ISLAND FORD BAPTIST CHURCH 2124 NC hwy 67, Jonesville NC 28642 -336-526-3900 ...

The Cross has always been God's plan to redeem mankind. God's love is evident on the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament foretells the coming cross and ...

Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price on the Cross. For the joy that was set before Him He endured the Cross despising the shame. Why would He pay such a high ...

Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Before He ascended to Heaven, He passed that commission to His disciples. Saving the lost was His Passion.

Family and Ministry Do Not Have to Compete All of us who are passionate about ministry recognize that we can have competing interests when it comes to balancing our ministry and family responsibilities. If we're not careful, we can yield to the addiction of busyness in ministry to the neglect of our own family.In the years Terrie and I were raising our children, I didn't always get it right. I'm thankful for God's grace and for how He often showed that to me through Terrie's reminders to work for balance in ministry and family life.Today, all four of our adult children are serving in full time ministry with their spouses, and we praise the Lord for that.People often ask how we did it. The only full answer is God's grace… and that's not just a cliché. It really is God's grace to us and in our kids' lives that has made the difference.But below are five biblical practices we tried to follow:1. Remember God's Divine OrderGod ordained the family first. Genesis 2:21–24 describes how God brought Adam and Eve together establishing the marriage covenant.As a husband and father (or wife and mother), your greater responsibility is to your family over your ministry. Remember to have your family devotions. Spend time together. Invest in your children by obeying Ephesians 6:4 to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.God also ordained the church, and it is a divine institution which He loves so dearly that He gave Himself for it (Ephesians 5:25). But as a pastor, it is good for me to remember that Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18) and that “the Lord added to the church daily” (Acts 2:47).There is no question about the fact that we are to be about our Father's business and to give of ourselves in ministry. But we need to recognize urgency addiction and a desire to build in our own strength. These will not only hurt our family, but ultimately they won't even produce a church that is truly growing through the work of the Holy Spirit in the grace of God by the Word of God.2. Integrate Family and Ministry LifePeople who look for the perfect balance between ministry and family sometimes fail to recognize that both fit together. Terrie and I look forward to times we can make a visit together, and we often read the same books or are in the same book of the Bible in our personal devotions and can discuss these together.When our children were at home, we did ministry-related things with the kids. Like Priscilla and Aquila who served the Lord as a couple, we don't have to segregate family life from ministry life.God did not design the church and the family to be competing institutions but completing institutions. Don't use the ministry as a tool against your family, and don't use your family as a reason to not be involved in ministry.3. Behave Passionately toward Both Family and MinistryWhen you're with your family, be passionately engaged with your family.Again, I had to work at this. Terrie will tell you that there were many times we'd be on a family day, and I was trying to keep up with the building committee or dealing with crisis counseling. She was always so good though at finding a moment to remind me, “This is your time with our family.”When you're with your family, be locked and loaded. Make memories, laugh, and enjoy time together. Similarly, when you're in ministry apart from your family, passionately give your attention and focus to those responsibilities as well.4. Be Sensitive and Responsive to the Holy SpiritI suppose the question I'm asked more than any other in this area is, “How do you know if you're balanced between your family and ministry?”My answer isn't as diagnostic as most people are looking for, but it's important: The Holy Spirit will tell you.Beware of imbalances, and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. He cares more about your church and about your family than you do.You may also want to seek the counsel of a trusted mentor who you've observed balance both well. If you're a staff member or busy church worker and you feel like you're out of balance, be sure to talk to your pastor about it.In any case, don't continuously dread that you might be out of balance and just go on. You'll eventually begin to resent your ministry or family or both. Ask God for guidance, seek counsel, and take responsibility to make whatever changes need to be made.5. Bless the Ministry in front of Your FamilyMake sure you're not begrudging the demands of ministry, belittling other preachers, or bemoaning your own busyness to your family.Your family has the opportunity to get a front row seat to God at work in the church and changing people's lives. Let that be what they see. Point their attention to God's goodness and to the joy there is in serving Him.Through God's grace and by following His Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you can nurture a godly family in the midst of a fervent ministry.

Host Morgan Freeman surmises that the early Church was led mostly by women who saw Jesus as God

What would happen to small churches if we changed the way we talk about them?By far, the most prevalent expression of the church throughout history is the small congregation.More people have worshipped Jesus, been discipled, and reached out to others through the ministry of small churches than through any other tradition, method, format or denomination. Vastly more.Even today, with the celebration of ever-larger churches, most congregations are still small, and more people worship in them than in any other type of church.Why We Don’t Do Small Church As Well As We ShouldWe do small church a lot.But we don’t always do small church well.Especially in America and the western world, if a church is unhealthy and ineffective, it is most likely to be small. (That is not the same as saying if a church is small, it’s likely to be unhealthy and ineffective.)Why is it that even though the small church is the most normative form of church, it’s also the most likely to be done poorly? Here’s a hint: it’s not the fault of small churches, their members, or their pastors.In my years of studying this, combined with my own experience and conversations with hundreds of small church pastors and members, I’ve discovered that it starts with one misunderstanding.We don’t always do small church well because too many of us don’t know that small church can be done well.And if you don’t know you can…Small and Failed Becomes A Self-fulfilling ProphecyInstead of being told how many small churches there are, how many of them are doing extraordinary work all over the world, and how small congregations have done most of the church’s heavy lifting for 2,000 years and counting, we’re regularly told that if we’re doing church well at all, it won’t ...Continue reading...

In the Black Belt—once cleared for cotton plantations—rural black communities suffer the consequences of poor land stewardship.In 2013, the septic system at Jesus Christ Church of God the Bibleway failed and sewage began leaking into a neighbor’s yard—not uncommon for rural Alabama, an area plagued by sewage problems and a related upsurge in hookworm cases. A warrant was issued for the arrest of the church’s pastor, Bishop Ira McCloud.The public health department accused McCloud of failing to fix the problem after multiple warnings. But McCloud had actually been trying to resolve the problem for months by connecting the church to a city sewer line; it would be cheaper and easier than buying a new septic system. The city, however, wasn’t making it easy.When McCloud heard there was a warrant for his arrest, he immediately turned himself in. “I walked into the station and didn’t know what to do, so I put my hands up,” he recalled. “I had tears in my eyes when they took my picture.”McCloud, fortunately, didn’t have to spend a night in jail. The sheriff’s department told him to go home; they weren’t in agreement with the state’s orders to make the arrest. With the problem unsolved, the city later threatened to shut off the church’s electricity and take the property away.Leaking sewage systems—and the subsequent legal problems they cause—aren’t unique to Alabama and can be understood with a deeper “reading of the landscape,” an exercise recommended by ecologist Kristen Page, a faculty member at Wheaton College. She references Job 12: “… speak to the earth, and it will teach you.” It can help us understand our role as a part of creation and our connection and responsibility to our neighbors, she explained.“Christ will ...Continue reading...

Eleven evangelical experts weigh in as death toll of New Zealand Muslims hits 50.Last Friday, Muslim worshipers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, suffered a terrorist attack at the hands of an avowed white supremacist. 50 people were killed, with another 50 injured.Prior to the attack, the citizen of Australia posted a lengthy manifesto to social media, filled with anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim themes. He then proceeded to livestream the shooting. Some victims originally hailed from Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Malaysia.Given recent attacks on Christians in their places of worship, including many in Muslim nations, CT invited evangelical leaders to weigh in: How should Christians respond to Christchurch?Richard Shumack, director of the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology, Australia:The thing that came to mind immediately is Jesus’ beatitudes. How should Christians react to Christchurch? With mourning, a hunger for justice, and peacemaking. Christians must mourn with their Muslim brothers and sisters, thirst for the perpetrators of this heinous crime to be brought to justice, and put every possible effort into brokering peace in an age of furious tribalism.I also embrace wholeheartedly the poignant wisdom of Dostoevsky quoted by the Anglican bishop of Wellington, New Zealand: At some ideas you stand perplexed, especially at the sight of human sins, uncertain whether to combat it by force or by humble love. Always decide, “I will combat it with humble love.” If you make up your mind about that once and for all, you can conquer the whole world. Loving humility is a terrible force; it is the strongest of all things and there is nothing like it.Continue reading...