My family and I were in Greenville, SC, last Saturday for the graduation of my daughter from BJU. On Sunday, I preached at Faith Baptist Church in Linville, NC, pastored by my son’s father-in-law, my friend Brad Calhoun.

I repeated my message from Feb 3 concerning The Ministry of Christians to One Another and taught a lesson condensing our recent two part study on the nature of Christian fellowship. I also preached a new message based on the study of fellowship entitled “Partners Together with God” (audio not available).

We had a blessed time in this mountain church. The people of the church greeted us warmly and are faithfully working to build up a testimony for the Lord in a small mountain community.

In the meantime, back in Victoria, our pulpit was very ably supplied by Pastor Tom Nieman, retired pastor from Kent, WA. Pastor Nieman is a stalwart in the Northwest, a key leader among the FBF men in our area. I very much appreciate his ministry. The first message he preached for our people was one I heard him preach at our FBF meeting in February. I requested that he preach it again here. The links and summaries follow, although I think I need to edit the audio for volume (a little experimentation with our new digital recording software is in order).

The Glory of God

In our pastor’s absence, Tom Nieman, retired former pastor of Galilee Baptist Church, Kent, WA, filled our pulpit.

This message is a masterful survey of the theme of God’s glory through the Scriptures. It is well worth your consideration and meditation. May the glory of the Lord truly come!

The Bible Jesus Knew and Used

Pastor Nieman continues as our pulpit supply today. This message is a discussion of the authority of men vs. the authority of the Word of God.

How Much we Have in Christ (Eph 3.17-18)

Pastor Tom Nieman continues in pulpit supply with a message concerning our riches in Jesus Christ.

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I’ll have a few more posts shortly. I saw several interesting things in my last week of travels that I’d like to point out to you all. But now it is off to a Bible study on our first day home.

Today marks a new era in our church… we are fully digital in our recording. Hopefully this will make for better quality in the sound. We are also able to put the messages up much quicker than before. Our afternoon service let out just over an hour ago, and our messages are on the web. Now for a nap!

But first, here are our summaries:

The Preacher and his Preaching (Rm 1.1-17 review)

Having come to the end of Rm 1.17, we gave this morning to review of our work through Romans this far. Six months of preaching, 24 messages, and 17 verses…

The central idea of this message is that you must accept the credentials and message of the apostle Paul in order to have the gospel at all. Paul introduces himself, his plan, and his message in these verses. For the content to benefit the Romans (or any one) in any way, the whole must be accepted by repentant faith.

The Existence & Creation of Angels

In which we continue our look at Angelology, concluding last week’s study on the existence of angels and also discussing the creation of angels.

Prayers of Discipleship  (Lk 9.28)

Our survey of the Lord’s teaching on prayer brings us to the Transfiguration. Luke tells us Jesus prayed as he was transfigured. The purpose of this prayer was a matter of training for the disciples, correcting their misapprehension of his new teaching concerning his death, burial, and resurrection. Our prayers are likewise a means of discipleship, as praying according to the Scriptures we are drawn closer to heaven and heaven is drawn closer to us.

One of our members was promoted to heaven this week. Our musicians played her favourite hymn for the offertory this week: Great is Thy Faithfulness. She really knows the truth of that now!

Here are the summaries of our messages from our church website. Audio and pdfs are available there.

the Just shall live by Faith (Rm 1.17c)

Some passages are known for what they mean … and some for what they mean and also for what they meant at significant points in history. Perhaps no passage is more significant in this regard than our text for today. Martin Luther was converted to Christ when he finally grasped the meaning of ‘as it is written, the just shall live by faith’. The meaning of this passage is an overarching theme of the Bible. It is interesting that Luther’s conversion experience happened after the Reformation ‘began’, that is, it wasn’t until two years after the posting of the 95 Theses that Luther found relief for his soul when he discovered that ‘the righteousness of God’ was righteousness from God, righteousness for living, the moment in which he himself was ‘born again’.

The Existence of Angels

In which we begin a survey of biblical evidence concerning the reality, power, place and presence of angels throughout the Scriptures.

Jesus Withdrew to Pray (Mt 14.23, Mk 6.46)

Our subject in this message is private prayer, an area where we all feel we fall down, I think. In this message, three principles are suggested to improve our private prayers: take much time for prayer, make specific time for prayer, and plan for your time of prayer. Thoughtfulness will increase fruitfulness in prayer.

I draw on a number of E. M. Bounds ideas in Power through Prayer for this message.

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It seems a long time since I have posted – and the fundamentalist blogosphere is quiet also, at least the part of it that I frequent. Maybe we are losing our energy for blogging? Perish the thought! I still have lots on my mind, just no time to say it all.

In our ministry, we are taking extra time with one of our senior saints just now. The Lord appears to be taking her home very quietly. Most of her family is unsaved (though some profess salvation). We are finding this time to be a precious occasion of ministry for us and our people as we gather around the hospital bed and visit with her family. May the Lord be glorified in this!

I would like to share with you our sermons from last Sunday. You can find the audio and notes on our church site.

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A good day for us today, with a full Sunday school. Two families who are somewhat sporadic both came today, which expanded our ranks. We work and pray for spiritual stability and consistency here!

Here are the summaries:

The Righteousness of God (Rm 1.17a)

Our subject turns now to the reason the gospel is the power of God unto salvation: because in it (in the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed – not God’s righteousness as such, but the righteousness that is from God through Christ. God’s righteousness is a massive mountain of truth, an impossible barrier for sinful man, but that barrier melts away when righteousness from God comes to us by faith.

Christian Fellowship (1)

We begin a brief interruption of our Basic Theology series to look at the topic of Christian fellowship as taught in the Bible. This topic is largely misunderstood today, reduced to a bare notion of social interaction (coffee, lunch, potluck dinners). While the social interaction is a great blessing of church life, it flows from our fellowship, it doesn’t define it.

Note: this message was prompted by a discussion at a friend’s blog, EX vilis CATHEDRA “Together for What?” by Champ Thornton.

The Compensation Offering (Lev 5.14-6.7)

We continue our series in Leviticus for our Communion service. Our passage covers the fifth and last type of sacrifice prescribed in Leviticus. This is what the KJV calls a ‘trespass offering’. There are several unique features to this offering, but the main idea is that the sinner has defrauded God (or man AND God) and must not only be atoned for but also make restitution. The NT Christian has had his debt of sin paid, but his relationship with God still demands reparation, restitution, or compensation be made to restore the losses our sins have caused to our human relationships. Thank God that in Christ we are enabled to put such things right.

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I trust that your Lord’s Day was a spiritual blessing to you as well, hearing faithful preaching of the rich word of God.

Our latest sermons are up on our church website. For audio, follow the links over there.

To the Jew first (Rm 1.16d)

Why does Paul mention ‘to the Jew first’ in his theme verse of Romans? How does this add new information to his great central theme? If it is just a matter of history, as some commentators suggest, why is it significant here? The reason is startling at first, but a great glory in contemplation of the privileges into which all believers enter when they receive the truth of the gospel.

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Do you know how the date for Resurrection Sunday is calculated? It is the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 20. You can find a more detailed explanation elsewhere on the web, but that sums it up.

As many other churches, we had visitors in our services this Sunday. One was returning for a second time. It was a great blessing to minister the word of God to these folks. We hope that some of them at least will respond in faith to the gospel.

In addition to our own sermon summaries, I have an ‘extra’ offering in this post. At the recent Northwest Regional meeting of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship, the president of Maranatha Baptist Bible College, Chuck Phelps, was the keynote speaker. He gave us permission to broadcast one of his messages, on music, on our website. The link will appear below.

Now for the sermon summaries:

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