Precious Lord, we draw near to the throne of grace by the finished work of our great High Priest – the Lord Jesus Christ. We praise you that we are your regenerate and adopted sons and daughters through faith in the finished work of Christ. As we come to your throne for grace and mercy, we rejoice that in Christ all your promises are yes and amen.  We are sinful; you are holy. We were born in sin and have continued to sin. We are rebellious sheep who have turned away from the shepherd of our souls. We deserve curses, judgment, and punishment for the guilt of our selfish attitudes, fleshly desires, worldly...

  Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 All Christians in all places at all times are to be joyful, prayerful, and thankful. The verbs are normal. The adverbs are radical: Always. Without ceasing. In all circumstances. The three exhortations stand together. To rejoice always is to pray without ceasing. To pray without ceasing is to give thanks in all circumstances. Yet each exhortation stands alone. What does it mean to pray without ceasing? Pray constantly. To pray without ceasing is...

Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. – Ephesians 6:18   January 13-20, 2019 is Prayer Emphasis Week at the Shiloh Church in Jacksonville, where I serve as pastor. As a congregation, we start the year seeking God’s guidance, power, and blessings on our lives and ministry work together. We believe it happens after prayer! There are a lot of things you can do to help the situation, after you have prayed about it. But there really is nothing you can do to...

  And a leper came to Jesus, imploring him, and kneeling to him said, “If you will, you can make me clean.”– Mark 1:40   The last passage of chapter 1 (verses 40-45), records the miracle of Jesus cleansing a leper. It is also recorded in Matthew 8:1-4 and Luke 5:12-15. Leprosy was the most dreaded disease in the Bible. The term “leprosy” was used to describe anything from a skin rash to Hansen’s Disease (the modern name for leprosy). Luke 5:12 says this man who came to Jesus was “full of leprosy.” This was no skin rash. It was...

I was looking for a cord for a device I had not used in a while. And I knew exactly where to look. My wife keeps a box where she dumps gadget stuff that me and the kids inevitably lose. I rummaged through the box, never finding what I was looking for. But I did find several digital cameras. I pulled each one out of the box, remembering purchasing or using them for special events. After I repacked the box, I wondered why my family did not use these cameras any longer. It was not because there were no more...

Why pray? There are two fundamental reasons why you should pray. First of all, you should pray because the word of God commands it. Secondly, you should pray because it works! God is willing to hear and able to answer prayer. Prayer is the means God has chosen to provide for his adopted children in Christ. Whatever you need God to do in your life, it happens after prayer! When we work, we work. But when we pray, God works! Here are five ways to get your prayers.    Pray with a heart of sincerity In the Sermon on the...

  Our Father in heaven, We praise you that we can call you our Father in heaven, because of the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for every act of love, grace, mercy, kindness and favor you have bestowed upon us. And we thank you for watching over our children and families throughout the summer break. As a new school year begins, we pray your special blessings upon every school campus, administrator, teacher, worker, driver, and student. We pray for the school campuses where our children will attend classes. We ask you would put a...

In light of the national tumult last week, we had a special time of prayer in our worship services at the Shiloh Church yesterday. In fact, it was our joy to swap pastors with our brothers and sisters at the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville. Dr. Mac Brunson sent several pastors to pray and worship with us, as several of our pastors did the same with First Baptist. It was a simple, practical, yet important way for us to stand up for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and stand together in spiritual together during these critical times. NewsJAX4:...

Praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. – Ephesians 6:18 January 10-17, 2016 is Prayer Emphasis Week at the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church. We believe it happens after prayer! And we expression our devotion to believing prayer by beginning each year committing ourselves, one another, and our congregation to the Lord in prayer. I preach on prayer during these two Sundays. And we have set prayer times during the week. Members were given the opportunity to submit prayer requests. These prayer...

The church was growing. The threat of persecution could not stop it (Acts 4). The threat of corruption could not stop it (Acts 5). But the enemy still had another trick up his sleeve: internal division. The Greek-speaking Jews complained against the Hebrews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. The apostles called the church together and directly addressed the matter: "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and...

  I publicly pray before I start my sermons. I also privately pray as I preach. Can you preach and pray at the same time? You better! Multiple things go through the preacher’s mind as he preaches. I’m not sure the preacher thinks about multiple things at the same time. Rather, the mind quickly and constantly shifts from one thing to another – consisting of good and bad thoughts, true and false, wise and foolish. This is why I pray as I preach. There are three fundamental things I need God to do for as I preach. I Need God...

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. – Colossians 4:2 January 11-18 is Prayer Emphasis Week at the Shiloh Church. Our goal is to begin the year giving thanks, making confession, submitting our lives, offering petitions, and interceding for one another. In our worship services yesterday, members filled out prayer cards and left them at the altar. We asked each member to come this week and spend at least 15 minutes praying for the needs on the cards. YOU CAN SUBMIT PRAYER REQUESTS THROUGH OUR CHURCH WEBSITE (www.shiloh.church). CLICK THE ENGAGE TAB TO FIND THE PRAYER LINK....