Single-Issue Voters & Single-Issue Christians

In the spirit of the upcoming presidential election here is an idea that I’ve been thinking through and its potential ramifications: Single-issue voters? Abortion. Economy. Health Care. Immigration. Single-issue voters are those known to either give their support or remove their support because of a strongly held belief on a specific issue. Personally, I can [...]

Addicted to Works

Walter Marshall, a Puritan from the late 1600′s, accurately diagnoses what many times becomes our routine of Christian living and how it steals the joy God intends for us as believers in Christ: By nature, you are completely addicted to a legal method of salvation. Even after you become a Christian by believing the Gospel, [...]

A Christian Response to a Doctrinal Difference

This morning I read in my Bible the following passage. I was struck by how two godly Christians acted and reacted to one brother’s doctrinal difference. And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the [...]

Good Friday (for who though?)

I recently came across this quote and it made me think about how I celebrate this Passion Week. Yes, I’ll celebrate Good Friday, but for whom was it really good? Corrie Ten Boom put it like this: “In the forest fire, there is always one place where the fire cannot reach. It is the place [...]

How Do You Please God?

How do you please God? It is often times easy to see the difference between irreligion and the Gospel, but what is most dangerous (for me, at least) is the difference between religion and the Gospel. HT: Matthew Hoskinson

Baptist Distinctives: 2 Offices & Saved, Baptized Church Membership

Well, the final two Baptist distinctives of our series are: two offices and a saved, baptized church membership. Two Offices: pastor & deacon The Bible mandates two offices within the local church — pastor and deacon. There are three different words used in the New Testament for the office of pastor: elder (1 Tim. 5:19), [...]

Baptist Distinctives: Two Ordinances…Church & State

Are all churches equal? What makes one church distinct from another? The answer is the doctrinal beliefs that are taught and espoused are what distinguish us from other churches. Traditionally there are eight distinctives that Baptists (and baptistic churches) have historically held. The next three in the series are… Two Ordinances: Believer’s Baptism & Lord’s [...]

How Firm a Foundation: a new Adult Bible Fellowship series

Beginning Sunday, December 5, we will begin a short five-week series titled How Firm a Foundation: where your Bible came from, how you got it, why you should trust it. This series seeks to answer these questions: How can you know the Bible is true? Which books belong in the Bible? Do you have God’s [...]

The Trinity: What the Big Deal?

In one of our recent Adult Bible Fellowships we discussed the doctrine of the Trinity in relation to specific cults and I thought it may be helpful to give a lengthy quotation as to why it’s important to believe it the Trinity: Why is the church so concerned about the doctrine of the Trinity? Is [...]

Baptist Distinctives: Autonomy & Priesthood

We are first and foremost Christians. We understand that heaven will be filled with many who did not hold to the name Baptist, yet they have trusted solely in Jesus Christ alone by faith. We do not limit our name to Christian for Christian does not describe all that we are, we are Baptist Christians. [...]