Posts Tagged with "salvation"

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. This past week for our men's Tuesday morning Bible Study we were talking about heroes.Heroes from the Bible and also from our experiences of life.I asked the men the following questions: Is there a danger in having heroes? What should you look for in a hero? What do you do when they fail? Who a...

Following the destruction of Jerusalem in the year AD 70, the church at Antioch became a real hub of Christianity and a model church. For 500 years after its founding, the church at Antioch was one of the more influential churches within Christendom. In fact, some church historians believe that at its peak it had 100,000 attendees and a paid staff of over 3000! (McClin...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. In my opinion, the most amazing event in all of history occurred at Christmas when the eternal second person of the Godhead, at a point in time became a man, assuming human flesh all the while never ceasing to be God. John in the opening of his gospel put it this way:"The Word became flesh" (John 1...

The Apostle John in the opening of his gospel tells the Christmas story without Joseph or Mary, without the baby, without the stable, without the manger, without the shepherds, without the wise men, without the star, without the angels, without all the familiar components of the Christmas story. John gives us the real story of what was happening. It's a theological look...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. I absolutely love Christmas and always have. The kids are out of school, time off at work, a time for family and friends, a time for giving and receiving gifts and wonderful food!But that isnotthe reason.I love the fact that we can honor the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.It's a time t...

There are a myriad of answers to the simple question:"Why was Jesus born?" "Why did He come to earth?"The secondary reasons for his coming are:to present God to humanity;to teach truth; to fulfill law; to offer His kingdom; to teach those who did not understand about God;to reveal love; to bring peace; to heal the sick and more. But the one primary purpose for Jesus com...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. This past week I have reflected on the rich heritage that is mine by God's grace!Had my father lived, he would have been 100 years old last Tuesday, November 30.Without question, he was the most influential person in my life.I often tell people, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." Dad was bo...

All of us have known people who professed faith in Christ, who seemed to follow Him for some time, but then fall away. In some cases, they have even served in the ministry, turned away from the Lord, and lived as unbelievers. John 6 begins with Jesus having a massive following of some 20,000 people all singing His praises after He fed them the loaves and fishes.By chapt...

Today we return to our regular sermon series, as a recap let's remember that Jesus founded only one organization while He was here on earth and that was His church. The only organization, organism, institution the Lord Jesus founded and the only one He promised to bless. A painful but necessary aspect of church leadership is the disciplining of those who have done wrong...

As we enter the Holiday Season, we will depart from our current study on 1st Timothy and will begin a new series of sermons focusing on the upcoming Holidays. He should have known better. He never should have stayed at home alone while his army was fighting in the field. He never should have lingered late at night on his rooftop. He never should have set his eyes on tha...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. In last Sunday's message, I made reference to the fact that I grew up watching the TV program Perry Mason.I also watched the old Andy Griffith Show.For 8 seasons from 1960 to 1968,Andy Griffith was the sheriff of Mayberry, North Carolina, a fictional community of around 4,000 people.There were 259 ...

This Sunday we are blessed to have Scott Stripling, Ph.D. with us. Scott will sharewith us five examples of illumination from the biblical text and remind us that God's Word can be trusted in life and in death. Scott has been the Director of Excavations and Chief Archaeologist at Ancient Shiloh from 2017 to the present. Prior to that, he directed the excavations at Khi...

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path (Psalm 119:105 KJV). We all know Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm and also the longest chapter in The Bible. Psalm 119 has 176 verses, and almost every verse mentions God's word. Let's examine these verses and meditate on how they describe what the Word of God does. Cleanse (v. 9) Not wander (v. 10) Not sin (v. 11...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. I hate scary movies.Connie will bear this out.Scary movies really do a number on my ever-so-fragile psyche. I refuse to watch them. Truth be told, they ought not bother me because writers like Stephen King, Clive Barker, Dean Koontz, and others are imagining how things would be in this world if Go...

This Sunday is Halloween and many will be celebrating it. It has become an event with parties, costumes, kids having fun and the ever famous trick or treat. But how did it all start, where did it start? Today we remember Reformation Sunday, let's not forget God is our Lord.In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints.Soon, A...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. If you have attended MBC in person or watched on line you've noticed me moving slowly and using a cane.I had a MRI that showed that I have spinal stenosis which causes me to lose all feeling in my legs.The cause is vertebra in my lower back which are degenerating and compressing the nerves that go ...

They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon shall endure throughout all generations (Psalm 72:5, KJV) Today we are going to study Psalm 72 in two sections. The 1st section will be asking a series of questions related to this Psalm. In the 2nd section we're going to be looking at Isaac Watts and how his hymns compare or are alike to Psalm 72. WHO? Author is Solomon (...

As we discussed last week, there are numerous passages in the Bible dealing with widows. God has a special concern for them, along with orphans and others in difficult circumstances. Many passages lay down laws to protect widows. God is described as their protector and judge: "A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows is God in His holy habitation" (Ps. 68:5...

Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight(Psalm 51: 4a, NKJV) The superscription for this psalm is: "A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba." The background is given in 2 Samuel 11-12. William Culberson in his outline pointed out true confession includes the following elements: Casting onese...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. Few things are more controversial among Christians than the sovereignty of God. The issue is simply this: Is God truly sovereign (in control and supreme) over everything, including calamity, natural disasters, death, and demons, or is his sovereign control restricted to those things we typically r...

There are numerous passages in the Bible dealing with widows. God has a special concern for them, along with orphans and others in difficult circumstances. Many passages lay down laws to protect widows. God is described as their protector and judge: "A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows is God in His holy habitation" (Ps. 68:5). "The Lord protects the s...

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want (Psalm 23:1, KJV) INTRODUCTION (By Chuck Swindoll) "The 23rd Psalm is one people turn to when alone and afraid, when in harm's way in the battlefield, when surrounded by splintered remains in a disaster, when lying in a hospital bed facing surgery, in prison when the doors slam shut, and when overwhelmed by grief." RESEARCH AND ...

If you've ever done any boating, you know how essential it is to stay on course. If you steer just a few degrees off the desired course, you can wind up far from where you wanted to go. I read once of a shipwreck that happened because a sailor broke off the small tip of his knife blade while he was cleaning the ship's compass. He didn't remove it, and that little bit of...

He also brought me out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps (Psalm 40:2 NKJV) As we all know, and believe The Bible is God's inspired word for us. We also believe all throughout the scriptures the coming of the Savior, Jesus was prophesized. We also believe Jesus is a direct descendent of King David and there for h...

When engineerswant to take down an old skyscraper they put explosives at strategic places in the foundation. When they set it off, the building implodes. It is not surprising that Satan relentlessly tries to blow up the foundation of our faith, which is the Word of God. His very first temptation challenged Eve (Gen. 3:1), "Indeed, has God said ?" He has attempted to bring...

A fitting hymn for our celebration Sunday is Thomas Obediah Chisholm's hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Chisholm was born in a log cabin in Franklin, Kentucky in 1866. He received his education in a little country schoolhouse, and at age 16 began teaching at the same school. He became a Christian at age 27, and with no college or seminary training was ordained to the Me...

But his delight is in the law of the LORD and in His law he meditates day and night(Psalm 1:2, NKJV) As I continued reading and studying the Psalms, I truly enjoyed how our former Pastor Ken Hornok described Psalm 1. Pastor Ken expanded on these 5 main points, Separation from the world, Situated on the waterSaturated, Sanctified, and Satisfied by the Word of God. The go...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. No one can deny that in the wake of our withdrawal of remaining American troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban retaking cities previously liberated from their barbaric tyranny, the country has slipped back beneath the dark waters of fear and oppression. Today, the Taliban are armed to the teeth ...

This Sunday as we continue looking at the back story of some of the great hymns of our faith and their scriptural bases for those hymns; today we focused on "There is a Fountain Filled with Blood". There is no greater or more eternally important theme in all of Scripture than that of the shed blood of the sacrificial substitute. For example, when Paul writes in Romans 3...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. This past Tuesday August 24th, in Bridgeton, NJ we buried Connie's 95 year old mother, Pat Chambers. For the past 48 years she was my mother-in-law.The memorial service was a fitting tribute to a wonderful, Godly woman, who I had no difficulty calling "Mom" and grew to love.Our entire family put as...

Now these are the last words of David. Thus says David the son of Jesse; thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel(2 Samuel 23:1, NKJV) The book of Psalms is full of wonder, praise and love for God our creator, In the Psalms you can read about worship, lament, desperation, despair, creation, humanity, all of th...

You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4: 7-8 Today our guest speaker is Pastor Dan. Pastor Dan is no stranger to MBC and has been a pastor for over 4 decades. He retired 2 years ago from Grace Community Bible Church in Sandy. Pastor Dan...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. Connie and I are in South Carolina at Connie's sisters house.Yesterday, was Connie's Mom, Pat Chambers', 95thbirthday.We gathered around her bed and sang happy birthday.Not sure she was aware what was going on because she is dying.The hospice nurse has said she could depart this life at any moment....

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. The first week of August never passes without reminding me that 13 years ago (August 3, 2008) my father passed away and went to heaven.Seven years later (November 28, 2015) my mother joined Dad.As I get older I've become increasingly more conscious of death.I hope no one will think of that as a mor...

Who is Jesus Christ? This question has been asked many many times. Even during Jesus' life, many asked, Who is Jesus? Is He reallty the Son of God, Is He the messiah? Is He the chosen one? Today we're going dive deeper into this topic and discuss who Jesus is and how we can present him to other? John Newton, a former English slave trader is best know for his hymn "Amaz...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. This weekend Connie and I will be attending our niece's wedding in Texarkana. We are coming down to less than a half dozen nieces and nephews who remain single and like all our family weddings, we are looking forward to seeing our extended family. All my siblings will be there so it will be special...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. I know the following is long, but its worth your time in reading! Allen and Helen Christopherson, natives of Saskatchewan, Canada, were married in 1960.They werenot Christians.Allen needed a job and found work on a crew cleaning out beer storage tanks.It didn't pay much but the beer was free.Many e...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. Sir Christopher Wren was the greatest architect of his day (16321723) having been granted Knighthood for his achievements in 1673.His skills were greatly in demand and he was given responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including what is regard...

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15, KJV) Life is full of ups and downs, good times and bad times, yet one thing is always constant, we're always learning, no matter how old we are, life is always teaching us new things. Many life events occurred in...

Today we focused on the role of God in the Church. There are many religions and churches out there, some are truthful to the Gospel and others offer salvation at a price. What would Jesus think of those churches that offer salvation in exchange for your money, your possessions, but never preach the Gospel of Salvation through faith in Christ alone! In John 2 Jesus goes ...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. Every part of life has its moments when you want to quit and throw in the towel.That can apply to your job, marriage, a daily discipline - every aspect of life. I love the story of the pastor who under the stress of a church problem felt he could take no more. So, he sat down and wrote a letter to...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. On September 9, 1839, a little boy was born into the Hatfield clan of West Virginia. His given name was William Anderson Hatfield.While still quite young he got a nickname from his own mother that perfectly described his sinister disposition and aggressive nature. She called himDevil Anse. The name...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. Among the many glorious blessings and benefits that are ours as children of God by faith in His Son is "access" to the Father. This access to God is through the Son, in the power of the Spirit. It is readily ours whenever we need it. We need never set an appointment with God, hoping He might have t...

Behold, a sower went out to sow.But others (seeds) fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Matthew 13:3b, 8 (NKJV) Are we ready to share our faith with others? I know this is something we all talk about doing, but are we ready to share what God is doing in our lives the moment the opportunity presents itself? Many times we expe...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to Sunday. The principle symbol of our faith is the cross of Jesus Christ.Paul understood this and in his letter to the churches in Galatia wrote:"But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world"(Galatia...

Today we celebrate Resurrection Sunday. In honor of our resurrected Lord we'll be taking a break four our regular sermon series. This Resurrection Sunday we studied "Five Fundamental Truths without which we have No Hope." If Jesus is going to save us then he had to become human Jesus came to Die! Through His death He breaks the power of the Devil The power of Stan...

Dear Friends, In 1941, when the Nazis began brutalizing the Jews of France, the parents of Maurice, 12, and Joseph Joffo, 10, told them they would be sending them to live with relatives in unoccupied France. Each was given 5,000 francs, or about 10 dollars, to pay his way on the train. They would travel to the border town of Dax, and then find a way to cross the border ...

Today we continue with our new sermon series "God's Blueprint for the Church." Our 6th message, Praying for The Lost focuses on our conduct and our need to pray for the lost and their salvation. Join us again and for the next few weeks as we continue to carefully study 1st Timothy a marvelous letter. As Paul begins to tell Timothy how to conduct oneself in the local chu...

Dear Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to theLord's Day. John Taylor Smith was the honorary chaplain to Queen Victoria and the Chaplain General of the British Army during World War I. John Smith used to ask all the candidates for the chaplaincy one question:Now, I want you to show me how you would deal with a man. We will suppose I am a sold...

1Timothy 1:8-11 AwfulLawlessness Today we continue with our new sermon series "God's Blueprint for the Church." Our 3rdd message, AwfulLawlessness focuses on the proper standing of the Church's regarding God's Law and human law. Join us again and for the next few weeks as we continue to carefully study 1st Timothy a marvelous letter. The greatest sound and light show i...

Big Mouths -Bad Message1 Timothy 1:3-7 As we continue with our new sermon series "God's Blueprint for the Church." Our 2nd message, Big mouths bad message focuses on what should the Church's message be. For the next few weeks we will continue to carefully study 1st Timothy a marvelous letter. If the world were free of all disease, we would not need doctors or hospitals a...

Dear Members and Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to our service this coming Lord's Day! One of the lessons I'm going to share from our study of Gideon in Judges 6 is that family relationships can be the most challenging. This is particularly true in spiritual matters, particularly evangelism. One of the greatest burdens on earth is reali...

Dear Members and Friends, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to our service this coming Lord's Day! Last Monday Connie and I went shopping at Costco. As I followed with the shopping cart I noticed 4 young men wearing black pants, white shirts and dark ties and name tags identifying them as Elders of the LDS Church. I was hoping to talk with them and pur...

Dear Precious Saints of MBC, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to this coming Lord's day. People are coping with the current crisis in differing ways, most of which are only making matters worse. I have long held the belief that the best way to manage the anxiety and fears that arise from earthly chaos is by meditating on the peace and blessings ...

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that we have been freely given to us by God.(1 Corinthians 2:12, NKJV) When God enters our lives, we're changed by His grace, even if we don't think it worked. One day some friends invited a student nurse to a camp meeting in the suburbs. Wavering but not wanti...

Dear Friends,Welcome to Midvalley Bible Church. We are always grateful to be able to meet on the Lord's Day, to fellowship with one another, to sing God's praise and to hear God's Word. This morning as part of our worship celebration, we gather to remember what Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary.Have you noticed that we live in a love starved world? Maybe, you have p...

Dear Precious Saints of MBC, I trust you are doing well and looking forward to this Sunday. During the 1992 Presidential Election, Presidential Candidate, Bill Clinton had played at every rally and the Democrat Convention, as his theme song, Fleetwood Mac song "Don't Stop." His rallying cry was simply this:Don't stop thinking about tomorrow.That advice is applicable t...

Among Evangelicals, the security of the believer is not a settled issue. Good people differ on the issue. The question is simply this: Can a born-again, justified by faith, adopted child of God ever lose their salvation? Or as others have expressed it, is it possible for a born-again, justified by faith, adopted child of God to forfeit their salvation by fully and finall...

All of us are in some form of financial debt. We all owe money, either on a car or a home, a student loan, or something of the sort. Although it can be burdensome, most of us can at least see a light at the end of the tunnel. We are energized by the hope that one day it will be paid in full and we will receive from our creditors a piece of paper releasing us from any fu...

Next Sunday we bring to a close our long and methodical journey through the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians. 29 messages ago, one Sunday shy of one year (2/22/2019) we began our study of this marvelous letter. It's been an exciting trip. The topic of God's grace has been dealt with so forcefully and effectively in this book that one cannot escape the overwhelming truth ...

Telling other's about God's love is not hard, because God's love is not hard to understand. He loves us so much He gave up his only Son to die for us and our sins and all we have to do is believe and accept the gift of salvation....

Telling the generations to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. (Psalm 78:4 NKJV) I know we all hear and have heard many comments regarding our younger generations, such as "The world is going downhill rapidly. The present generation is on a destructive path." The media complex, the new explosion of social media accent...

Are we redeemed by faith alone? What about The Law given to Moses? Are we saved by grace also?...

Why do we believe in Christ? Are we truly forgiven? Do we think we are tied to a religion or The Truth?...

We need to be grounded in God;s Word so we are deceived by false teachings. Our beliefs are under attack, and so are we!...

Can I earn my salvation by doing good deeds or works? Some will have us believe we need to do certain jobs or works to earn salvation, but God through Jesus, gave it to us as a gift. WE are redeemed by the old rugged cross!...

There are may churches but only one True God and Gospel, are we able to discern and tell the difference?...

All things work together for good to those who love God. (Romans 8:28 NKJV) As a high school senior I had my heart set on an engineering career as my future goal. I had passed and met all the academic requirements for a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship. The only thing I needed to do was pass the physical. I had an excellent chance for a full scholarship, f...

Is my salvation free? Can I help my salvation by being good and doing good deeds? What I don't believe in God, but I am still a good person, can my good works and deeds save me?...