Tonight brings to an end our Wednesdays in the Word 2010 series at the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church. Over the past three weeks, we have been challenged and encouraged by the faithful preaching of Ralph Douglas West, Joel C. Gregory, and William C. Curtis. Our guest speaker will be Dr. John R. Adolph, senior pastor of the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Beaumont, Texas. I have known Pastor Adolph for more than 10 years. We met as we preached together for his uncle. I have been greatly encouraged to watch the Lord’s hand on his life and ministry over the...

Boy, how time flies when you are having fun! We are in the midst of a great meeting here at Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church: Wednesdays in the Word 2010. Over the past two weeks, we have been richly blessed by the ministry of the Word from Dr. Ralph Douglas West and Dr. Joel C. Gregory. we are excited to have Dr. William H. Curtis – Senior Pastor of the Mt. Ararat Baptist Church in Pittsburg and President of the historic Hampton’s Minister’s Conference – as our guest speaker. Dr. Curtis participated in this meeting last year and was a great...

Tonight, we will continue our series of special services at Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church that we call Wednesdays in the Word. Last week, Dr. Ralph Douglas West of the Church Without Walls in Houston blessed us in a great way through the ministry of the word. We are grateful and honored to have Dr. Joel C. Gregory as our special guests tonight. Dr. Gregory is a former pastor, itinerant preacher, seminary professor, author, and mentor of preachers. In fact, last night he did a seminar on contemporary preaching that was very challenging, encouraging, and beneficial for our associate preacher, Bible...

We have a corporate prayer meeting at the Shiloh Church that meets every Saturday before the 1st Sunday. It is a great time of supplication and intercession. I often prepare a prayer guide for these meetings, so help guide our times of prayer. Here is the prayer guide from last week: • Pray for Haiti. - Pray for President René Préval and the entire government of Haiti. - Pray that the suffering and grieving people of Haiti will receive the aid they need. - Pray for the salvation of the Haitian people who have not trusted Jesus as their Savior...

Tonight begins a series of services at Shiloh Church that we are calling “Wednesday in the Word.” The goal of these services is to encourage spiritual renewal for the new year to the glory of the God. Our guest speaker tonight will be Dr. Ralph Douglas West, founder and pastor of the Brookhollow Baptist Church in Houston – better known as The Church Without Walls. Having led The Church Without Walls for more than twenty years, Dr. West is an author, seminary professor, and a much sought after speaker. Ralph West is a faithful, powerful, and compelling preacher of the...

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...

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 4:7 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...

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...