WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A SAINTPhilippians 4:20-23 There is much confusion about what it means to be a saint. Of course, sainthood is misunderstood among the unsaved, unchurched, and uninitiated in biblical truth. But many who claim the name of Jesus do not understand sainthood, either. If given an essay requiring a formal definition of the term “saint,” some of us would fail. But that’s not important. What is important is that some of us do not know the right answer to the simple question: “Are you a saint?” Would you say, “No. I am not a saint. I’m...

Can you believe it? Yesterday, it was New Year’s Day. Today, January is over! Wow! Psalm 90:12. I spent five hours in the emergency room with Crystal last night. But she is feeling better today. Praise God. This morning, the kids and I made our way to church without Crystal. But my mind was on her all day. It was kind of hard to concentrate. But the Lord helped me get through the day, as he is faithful to do. Thanks for your prayers for Crystal. 5th Sundays are Missions Emphasis at Shiloh. I have been introducing the church to...

This week I have been in an intensive Old Testament Survey class at the Jacksonville extension of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. (For the record, thank God there is a Gordon-Conwell in Jacksonville!) This OT Survey class was taught by Dr. Walter C. Kaiser Jr. Dr. Kaiser is the former president of Gordon-Conwell and a very respected scholar, teacher, and author. This class has been a such a benefit to me this week in helping me to put my Bible together, as it were - the unity of the Bible. Dr. Kaiser’s focus has been the promise-plan of God in the Old...

Happy New Year! It was a beautiful day. But it was cold. No. It was cooooooold! The weather guy called it “deceptive sunshine.” He explained, “You will look outside and see the sunshine. But when you go outside, you will feel the cold.” He was right. I am glad the saints pressed on to worship anyway. The Lord smiled on our first Lord’s Day worship services in 2010 at Shiloh yesterday. I resumed teaching my New Members Class yesterday. It was good to be with our new members and to discuss with them the good news of Jesus Christ. I...

Philippians 4:7 is a promise of peace. It promises that God’s peace will guard the heart and mind of the believer who prays instead of worrying. Philippians 4:9 is also a promise of peace. It promises that the God of peace himself will be with the believer who lives out the teachings of our faith. The tension between these two promises is the burden of this message. Both of these verses promise God’s peace. Verse 7 promises the peace of God. But verse 9 promises the God of peace. The difference is not mere semantics. The peace of God speaks...

Today was the last Sunday of the 2009. God has been faithful. And it was a joy to be in worship again with the saints of Shiloh. We only had one service today at Shiloh. We met at 9 AM. I do not know if the change of time threw some people off or whether people were out because of the holiday. Regardless, I am grateful for all of the members and guests that pressed their way to worship today. Our young adult ensemble led the musical praise this morning under the leadership of Reginald Bass. I am grateful and...

Philippians 4:1-9 is a call to Christian steadfastness. Verse 1 exhorts the church to “stand firm in the Lord.” The next eight verses teach practical steps that lead to the steadfastness of faith verse 1 calls for. Our text is a part of this inspired strategy for Christian stability. It begins with a command: “Do not be anxious about anything.” The term anxious means “to deeply care about something or someone.” It can refer to proper or legitimate concern. Paul uses it this way in Philippians 2:20 when he says of Timothy, “I have no one like him, who will...

It was a cold but beautiful day in Jacksonville and a warm day of worship at Shiloh. As always, I am grateful for the guests who joined us in worship today. Our choir really lifted us in worship today. I am grateful for their ministry. I preached a message today from Philippians 4:6-7 that I entitled “God’s Answer for Your Anxiety.” Here is God’s answer for your anxieties: Pray your worries away! Don’t worry. Pray. Turn your worries into prayers. Take everything off of your worry list and put it on your prayer list. Bring all of your worries –...

Many people view pastors as a caricature. Pastors are seen through the lens of communications kings, so “mega-church pastors, and all the religious hypocrites who masquerade as men of God. But this is not the reality. All of this country, there are sincere, godly, faithful men who persevere in guarding their lifestyle and their doctrine (1 Timothy 4:16). But, of course, these are not the men who get most of the attention. A pastor usually has to be a great success or a miserable failure for people to notice him. And this leaves out the vast majority who are humble,...

In his book Spiritual Burnout, MALCOLM SMITH writes of taking a walk one morning in the Catskill Mountains of New York. As he rested near an algae-covered pool, he was treated to an incredible sight. Mosquitoes danced near the surface of the water. Dragonflies darted between the reeds. Then his attention was captured by a frog sunbathing on a partially submerged rock out in the center of the pool. Something was happening to the frog. Before his very eyes, it collapsed – not falling over, but deflating like a balloon with a slow leak. It finally lay in a dreadful...

Let me begin with a note from Saturday. On December 12, my wife and I celebrated our eleventh wedding anniversary. How time flies! I am unspeakably grateful for the precious gift the Lord has given me in Crystal. She has been a consistent channel of the love and grace of God in my life. And our relationship has been both a God-given means and motivation for sanctification. I married way out of my league. And being married to Crystal inspires me to keep striving to be a better man. I love her. I thank God for our marriage and all...

I am on my way home this morning from Petersburg, VA - near Richmond. I spoke last night night at the closing service of the Fall Family Fellowship for Pastor Jeffrey L. Reaves, Sr. and the Good Shepherd Baptist Church. The Lord is doing a great work in and through Good Shepherd. Several years ago, Pastor Reaves led the congregation in a relocation process. And they are using their new campus to make a real difference in their community and beyond for Jesus' sake. It was an honor to have been invited to minister the word to this great congregation....