Free PDF and Review: Reforming a Local Church

Ernest Resinger. Reforming a Local Church.  Pensacola, FL: Chapel Library, June 4, 2015. 40 pp.

4 out of 5

Free: Chapel Library

Purchase: Amazon

This is a famous essay by Pastor Ernest Resinger who is an important leader with the conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention.  This essay is about reforming a local church and while his original address was many decades ago for the context of the SBC denomination the applications and principles here applies for those in other denominations as well.  This booklet is both edifying and challenging.

Read Full Post »

This Sunday at Church: Email Sermon Notes to those who can’t make it to Service

For this Sunday here’s what you can do: Email Sermon Notes to those who can’t make it to Service.

Read Full Post »

Exposition of Nahum Part 2: God has the power to Judge and Save

Last installment: Part 1: Why God Judges Nations 

Nahum 1:3b-8

And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. 4 In the gale and the storm is His way, And clouds are the dust beneath His feet. 4 He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, The blossoms of Lebanon wither. 5 Mountains quake because of Him, And the hills come apart; Indeed the earth is upheaved by His presence, The world and all the inhabitants in it.  6 Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath gushes forth like fire, And the rocks are broken up by Him. 7 The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble, And He knows those who take refuge in Him. 8 But with an overflowing flood He will make a complete end of [b]its site, And will pursue His enemies into darkness.

Establish the need: We saw last time God has the attributes that will make Him judge the wicked; but does He have the power to do so?

Purpose: We need to know God will one day come down to earth to give a global Judgment and still God will graciously save those who trust in Him.

• We need to know God has the power to judge with His power over nature (v.3b-5)
• We need to know God has the power to judge with His power over humans (v.6-8)

Read Full Post »

Bible Contradiction? What’s new?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: What’s new?

Here are the answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

Nothing is, or ever will be, new.

“What has been, it is what will be, And what has been done, it is what will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

Some things are new.

“Behold, I am going to do something new, Now it will spring up; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19)

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.” (Isaiah 65:17)

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

“But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:13)

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.” (Revelation 21:1)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Read Full Post »

The Church during the days of Corona Virus: Pray for those with Omicron

For this Sunday here’s what you can do: Pray for those with Omicron.

Read Full Post »

Exposition of Nahum Part 1: Why God Judges Nations

Consult our introduction to the book: Survey of the Book of Nahum

Nahum 1:2-3a

A jealous and avenging God is the Lord; The Lord is avenging and [a]wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies. 3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

Establish the need: Why do God judge the nations? We need to understand who God is and His attributes.

Purpose: We need to know God will judge sin because of His attributes, five we will see here in Nahum  so that we will repent and trust in Christ to be saved.

Read Full Post »

Bible Contradiction? Was Noah a just and perfect man?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Was Noah a just and perfect man?

Here are the answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

Yes.

“These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” (Genesis 6:9)

No, he got drunk and cursed his grandson (and all of his descendants) with slavery because his son saw him drunk and naked.

“Then Noah began [a]farming and planted a vineyard. 21 He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it on both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were [b]turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. 25 So he said, “Cursed be Canaan; [c]A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers.”” (Genesis 9:20-25)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Read Full Post »

This Sunday at Church: Pray for any of your church’s most recent retreat, that God would use it

For this Sunday here’s what you can do: Pray for any of your church’s most recent retreat, that God would use it.

Read Full Post »

Our Top 10 Posts of 2021

Our blog focuses a lot on the Bible, the Christian worldview, theology and apologetics.  We also write on practical matters such as Christian living, devotionals and the church.  Then there’s book reviews on the above subjects in addition to reviews of books on history, books for kids…and comics!

I’m thankful for all of you who reblogged our posts and shared them across various social media.  We hit two milestone this year.  See Blog Milestone: 1.9 Million Views and Blog Milestone: 2 Million Views.

Below is our top posts written in 2021.

Read Full Post »

This Sunday at Church: Encourage the Prayer Warriors around you

For this Sunday here’s what you can do: Encourage the Prayer Warriors around you.

Read Full Post »

Bible Contradiction? Should you answer a fool according to his folly?

Note: The reason why I’m refuting this particular contradiction today is because a few days ago some troll said I was “lying” for not having an answer to this alleged Bible contradiction because I didn’t get back to him right away (and his second comment made me not wiling to respond).  I personally think this is not the unanswerable alleged contradiction as the troll think it is!  It is actually an incredibly low-grade example for an online troll to pick as a challenge for Christians to answer.

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Should you answer a fool according to his folly?

Here are the answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

Yes.

“5 Answer a fool as his foolishness deserves, So that he will not be wise in his own eyes.” (Proverbs 26:5)

No.

“Do not answer a fool according to his foolishness, Or you will also be like him.” (Proverbs 26:4)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Read Full Post »

A Son of A Refugee’s Appreciative Letter to a Church in Middle America

The year 2021 is coming to a close.  I’m beginning to reflect back this year.  Having a blog helps.  Soon I’ll write my post of the top posts of the year.  But as any writer knows, there’s some posts that one might think should have done better but didn’t make the top 10, etc.  

Earlier in August I wrote “A Son of A Refugee’s Gratitude for Christians in America’s Mid-West.”  Some of you regular readers of the blog who followed the site for years have said it was probably one of the best posts I wrote.  I think I agree.  If you remember August was the fall of Afghanistan.  The comparison of Vietnam to Afghanistan made me think about my own family history.  

It turns out the next day after I wrote that post we got a letter from the church that sponsored my mom’s family to the US.  It was very emotional for my sisters and I reading it.  I also saw the timing was providential. 

Read Full Post »

This Sunday at Church: Discuss with someone about God’s Faithfulness in 2021

For this Sunday here’s what you can do: Discuss with someone about God’s Faithfulness in 2021.

Read Full Post »

“Christmas” Expectations in Genesis

Establish the need:  The coming of God to be born to save us from our sins, when was this first predicted or anticipated?  Can it be that this “Christmas” hope, of God coming to be born to save us from our sins, be predicted as far back as the book of Genesis?

Purpose:  Today we will see four points concerning the expectation of the Messiah

• Young or old should know the Old Testament expectation of the Messiah (Luke 1:46-55)
• The expectation of the coming of the Messiah with Adam and Eve
• The expectation of the coming of the Messiah with Lamech
• The expectation of the coming of the Messiah with Noah

Read Full Post »

Review: Know How We Got Our Bible

Ryan M. Reeves and Charles E. Hill. Know How We Got Our Bible.  Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, August 7, 2018. 208 pp.

5 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

How did we get our Bible and what is the history of the transmission of the Christian Bible?  Christians who love God and the Bible should care about this question!  So here is a great resource for general readers by two authors that are qualified to teach us about this matter.  The first author is Ryan Reeves, an Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and the second author is Charles E. Hill Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Early Christianity.  Charles Hill has also written and edited books related to text of Scripture and manuscripts.  Yet they wrote in a way that was accessible for the general Christian audience to understand all the while being informative and narrating the history and contexts of Bible editions.

Read Full Post »