Today was a good day of worship. I was glad to be in the service one more time. I finally finished Lesson #11 in my New Members Class. I know my class members are class that we finally finished that lesson after more than four weeks. I really enjoy teaching the New Members Class. Our children’s choir sung during our 10 AM service. It was great. Natalie helped to lead one of the songs. She does not get her singing from her mother! I felt such a sense of the presence of God in our service this morning as our...

GOD HELPS THOSE WHO CANNOT HELP THEMSELVES 2 Chronicles 26:15-21 Isaiah’s glorious vision of the Lord God begins in Isaiah 6:1 with these classic words: “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” Unfortunately, this passing time-reference is basically all many of us know about Uzziah, King of Judah. But it is definitively not all that scripture has to say about him. A fuller record of Uzziah’s story is told in 2 Kings 15:1-7, where he is called Azariah, which...

It is always a great joy and privilege to celebrate both baptism and the Lord’s Table in corporate worship. In New Members Class, I continued teaching on the church. The focus on my study was on the mission of the church recorded in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. I continued my study of the book of Philippians, preaching from Philippians 2:12-13. I entitled the message, “The Ins-And-Outs of Christian Living.” Next Week’s text: Philippians 2:14-18. Most likely, it will take me two messages to get through this passage. We’ll see. Praise God for those who were saved and added...

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important that the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, that, successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act...

This morning, we had our first Kingdom-Focused Prayer Meeting at SMBC. Each month, the Saturday before the first Sunday, we will spend an hour in prayer together as a church. Our focus will be on spiritual, kingdom, eternal matters, more than personal requests. We will beseech the Lord God that his name would be hallowed, his kingdom would come, and his will would be done on earth as in heaven. May the Lord smile on these times of corporate prayer. Here is the prayer guide from this morning's meeting: • Pray that we would receive a higher view of God...

THE HYMN OF CHRISTPhilippians 2:5-11 Philippians 2:5-11 is called THE HYMN OF CHRIST, because scholars tell us that this passage records an actual hymn that was sung in worship by the early church. Contextually, Philippians 2 is a call to spiritual unity. In verses 1-4, Paul says, “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry and conceit, but in humility count others...

Today was long but rich and blessed day. The Lord was gracious to smile on our worship services today at Shiloh. Thank you for praying for me, as I have not been feeling well this week. I am still having up and down days. But I am grateful that the Lord has been giving me strength to preach at the appointed times. Please continue to pray for me and my health. And pray that the Lord will give me wisdom to follow doctor’s instructions and my boss’ commands - Crystal! Our youth and young adults choirs led the music in...

From Left to right: Unidentified, W.P. Carter, Gardner C. Taylor, H.B. Charles, Sr., Lawrence A. Felix, Sr., Horace N. MaysThan you Professor Paul Felix for sharing this picture of our fathers with me.

Long day. Good worship. Important message. Hard work. Totally exhausted. I am grateful to God for the privilege he has given me to shepherd the saints at Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church. The Lord richly blessed our Vacation Bible School. Forty-three young people took of step of faith to Christ. Praise God! As always, I am grateful to God for the guests who worshiped with us at Shiloh yesterday. In New Members Class, I continued my study of the church. I spent our time focusing on Matthew 18:15-20. It was a good time of study. I began my study of Philippians...

This past Sunday, I concluded my study of Philippians chapter 1 with a message on verses 29-30, entitled, "The Gift of Suffering." Here is the sermon skeleton:TITLE: “The Gift of Suffering” TEXT: Philippians 1:29-30SERIES: PHILIPPIANS: PARTNERSHIP IN THE GOSPEL THEME: The gift of suffering POINT: Christian suffering is a gift from God to be embraced and endured with joy. TRANSITION: Consider with we me three things these two verses teach us about Christian suffering. OUTLINE: I. The privilege of Christian suffering (1:29)A. Belief in Christ is a gift from God: "For it has been granted to you for the sake...

We had a good day of worship at Shiloh yesterday. I have a “hard saying” to preach. But as the saying goes, difficult texts make good preachers. If so, I became a better preacher for struggling with the text this week. And I pray that the church was made the better for hearing the word. One the practical benefits of verse-by-verse exposition is that it forces you to deal with passages and subjects that you would otherwise avoid. This discipline helps us to preach the whole council of God, not just our favorite subjects. Praise God for those who were...

It was good to be home and back in my own pulpit this morning. I missed being in worship with Shiloh last Lord's Day. And I am thankful that the Lord allowed me and my family to get home safely and be reunited with our church family. This was my first 4th of July weekend in Jacksonville. I did not know what to expect this morning. I was pleasantly surprised. We celebrated both Christian ordinances - baptism and the Lord's Supper in worship this morning. What a blessing! I resumed teaching my new members class today. We discussed one my...