Pastor Rice is a USAF retired systems engineer turned Baptist Preacher who brings a fresh practical and Biblical look at what the Bible says. Weekly messages preached at Good Samaritan Baptist Church are condensed into devotional essays and sent out as weekly Penny Pulpit Columns for local publications. This collection of messages was preached during 2019. They contain the wisdom of God in 52 essays over multiple topics. Pastor Rice has been at Good Samaritan Baptist Church, Dresden NY, since September of 1997. Previous, while serving twenty-three years in the USAF, he has been a Sunday School teacher, youth pastor, junior church director, music director, bus captain, associate pastor and father of 3 boys. His practical teaching of God's Word is captured each year in 52 weekly Penny Pulpit publications. Each title shows the year and week number that the message was preached, i.e. Msg#1328 was preached the 28^th week of 2013. This compilation of messages, used with a computer search engine, is an excellent resource for Bible students, preachers, and missionaries. They are available in pdf format at www.GSBaptistChurch.com

Msg #1901 Strength, Courage, Meditation

As we embark into a new year consider Joshua's launch into the promised land. As a minister to Moses he saw God do some things; they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, at Horeb the Struck-Rock gave water, and when Amalek rose up against them Moses held up his hand, and Joshua fought the battle. He went up Mount Sinai with Moses, came down with tables of stone, and made the people drink gold-water. God always prepares people for every trial and circumstance they face. When twelve went down to spy on Canaan, ten were bad,... but Joshua, at age 45, knew to trust God. Whatever God brings your way this year, you can trust him. Joshua, just the same, was given a sound charge about the challenge before him. God said be strong, be of good courage, and meditate in “this book of the law.” Joshua stepped into his new year, crossed a flooded Jordan, fought the battle of Jericho, failed at Ai, got tricked by Gibionites, and was contested by seven kings at once. What a year he had. Heed the charge, be strong, be of good courage and learn to meditate. We know strength, we feel courage, and we do Bible study and meditation, but consider that the latter brings the previous two. In teaching college Algebra I harped that a little bit everyday of a semester is far superior to hours spent cramming for a test. Two Bible chapters read in the morning and one at night along with a psalm or proverb will do two things. It will get you through all 66 books, 1189 chapters, in one year, and it will set the stage for your meditating day and night. Strength and courage will follow super-naturally. Happy New Year. Read your Bible through in 2019.

Msg #1902 Seven Woes from God

The prophet Isaiah reveals the heartbreak of God whose hand is to stretch out in punishment of his chosen nation. His heartbeat is in his song which begs the question, “What could have been done more?” (Isa5:1-2, 4) “Come now, let us reason together” (Isa 1:18) is followed by seven woes. A woe is a plea, “don't go there”... “this will end badly”... “consider this carefully”... “step away quickly,” and God's first woe from Isaiah is to “city dwellers” (Isa5:8-10). In Genesis 11 citiots wanted to be like the most high God, and in 2016 citiots wanted Hilary Rodham Clinton to lead our nation down a progressive liberal path. They promote abortion, sodomy, racial division and rehearse the line, “Let us break their bands asunder and cast their cords from us,” as they shake their fist at God and against his anointed (Messiah) (Psalm 2). God's second woe is to the drunkard and drug addict, at epidemic levels in our society. (5:11-12). The third woe is to those who dabble in sin and iniquity, and the fourth to those who call evil good and good evil. (5:18-19,20). “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight” (5:21). The sixth woe is to the elite and powerful, the mighty and the politician who refuse God's counsel that, “Wine is a mocker and strong drink raking” (Prov 20:1). They would legalize drugs in America. But before one looks down his long nose to condemn, Isaiah ascribes a seventh woe, “Woe is me for I am undone: because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isa 6:5). Man “woes” with anger, God with compassion.

Msg #1903 Matter Created From Nothing

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2). Ignore “science-so-called” and pitch Roman allegorical methods and in these sentences God says what he means and he means what he says. Herein finite time, space, and matter continuums are created. In verse one “heaven” is singular because God only made one finite 3D space continuum for us. Correct your errant modernist bibles. Also earth is not a planet, that would have form. It is finite matter, without form and void, which could be a sea of quarks, not even assembled into a hydrogen atom as yet. In the last fifty years we have comprehended that matter is made of nothing. Electrons and quarks are only“particles” of energy. Quarks pack together inside protons and one proton orbited by one electron make a hydrogen atom. A carbon atom is six protons smashed into a nucleus with six orbiting electrons. Electrons are social and orbit in ten so four hydrogen atoms merge with one carbon and form methane gas. Oxygen has eight protons and eight orbiting electrons so two hydrogen atoms tag on to make H₂O which we call water. Water has form and is not void. Darkness on the face of the deep and then the Spirit of God moving on the face of the waters describes God creating matter out of nothing. The billions spent trying to advance man's theories has found every one of God's galaxies has a black-hole at its center. In that black-hole, which warps time and space, matter is turned back into the nothing from which it came. God is good, man is rebellious.

Msg #1904 He Created The Stars Also

“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night … for signs and for seasons.... he made the stars also” (Genesis 1:14,16b). Some Bible “scholars” stumble because God created light, days and nights before he created the sun, moon and planets, but the Bible student who trusts God's accounting here knows that God is light and finds this truth fascinating. Peering into a billion stars in our galaxy, causes some to stumble. The Hubble telescope made a majority stumble; our galaxy with its billion stars is only one of billions of galaxies! How could God so love the world when there are likely millions of others out there, millions of light years away? Even when the Bible student knows that time, space, and matter all warp together into nothing but energy, E = mc², and can read that God stretched out the finite stars in that finite space (Isa45:12), it gives us pause. In February of 1987 we photographed a star's supernova. It was 168,000 light years away. Even when God says that to him a thousand years is as a single day, light traveling through space for 168,000 years in a universe that is only 6,000 years old (God's word says so) is a stumbling block to faith. It begs the question, “Who are you going to trust?” When God confronted Job with his waning faith he said, “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?... Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? Canst thou set dominion thereof in the earth?” (Job 38:31,33). Finite minds will never know all the ways of an infinite God. Just learn to trust him, for without faith it is impossible to please him.

Msg #1905 Truth is Fallen

In the beginning God created... and on Friday, the sixth day, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen1:1,27). For four generations our society has force fed our children the idea that they have no Creator, that we got here by random chance, and that we need to demand our rights. The resulting amoral society kills babies in the womb and has to wait for little boys to grow up before their psychoanalyst asks him if he is male or female. Christians need a new boldness asserting three things. 1) God said “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” and human life is sacred with a soul present at conception. God's word is clear in this regard (Gen1:26, Psalm22:9-10, Isa49:5). 2) It is not good for man to be alone, God said, “I will make him an help meet for him... therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh” (Gen2:18,24). Sodomy is an abomination to God, not a basis for marriage. (Lev18:22, 1Cor6:9&1Tim1:10). And 3) the woman was made to be a “help meet” to man, i.e. a help “being precisely fitting and right” for man, NOT a leader of men. These three Bible truths mark out the fighting ground for all progressive liberals. Three reprobate planks in the Democratic Platform are abortion on demand, LGBTQ preference over Christian morals, and women in leadership. Truth has fallen in the street. Christians need to pick it up. Christendom has altogether buckled on the women-lib point. Women do not have the testosterone for confrontational leadership; they are manipulators who pull strings behind the scenes, i.e. Rebekah in Genesis 27, Pelosi in 2019.

Msg #1906 Three Rs of Arranged Marriages

People in love love Valentine's Day. Situate in the cold of winter but anticipatory of those hormones found in the leading edge of spring, February 14^th, comes with an expectation that one acts on impulses of having and holding a special Valentine. In that vein, God tells three love stories that I'll call The Three “Rs” of Arranged Marriages: Rebekah, Rachel and Ruth.

Genesis 24 is the longest chapter of God's In-The-Beginning series. Abraham was old and well stricken in age when he told his most faithful servant, “ I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.” God tells us, “And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahairoi;... and went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.” It is not about the camels, but they, mentioned eighteen times, carry the story.

Genesis 29 tells us at their first meeting, Jacob rolled the stone away, “kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.” Is this love at first sight? God's love stories are all multidimensional and loaded with revelation.

Ruth, gets a whole book of the Bible and has this unforgettable scene where she proposes to Boaz, and in the next chapter he becomes her kinsman redeemer. True love and God's great providence shows up in these three “Rs”. God does not arrange all marriages but these are specially designed to fit right into his plans. Yours could too. Happy Valentine's Day.

Msg #1907 Three Knots in Child Rearing

Perhaps the Bible's three worst cases of child rearing are found in Jacob, Hophni, and Manassah. Playing favorites in life is dangerous but in our homes it is devastating. “And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob” (Genesis 25:28). The mama's boy here grew up to be a manipulator and trickster with a mama's leadership qualities and no masculine confrontational leadership skills. As it goes, Jacob played favorites in his home, i.e. Rachel vs Leah, Joseph vs the eleven, and it took a lifetime and twenty-one chapters of Bible to straighten Jacob out.

“And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were ... sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD” (1Samuel 1:3,2:12). Eli, who trained Samuel, raised sons that profaned all that was holy in the Tabernacle of the LORD God (2:16-17,22-25). They had no discipline, and their father had no authority in their lives. Children raised with no discipline have no self-discipline, anger issues, blame issues and authority issues. Only two chapters later Hophni, Phinehas, and Eli were all slain as God had said.

Satan had a special plan for Manasseh, son of righteous King Hezekiah. Born in the God-granted extended life of his father, Manasseh “did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, ...” (2Kings 21:2). A wicked king, but in the end, Manasseh was sent into his own personal Babylonian captivity and was completely transformed: “Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.” (2Chron 33:11-13). Manasseh was used as illustration of what God would do for his people Israel. Child rearing is not for the timid, use your knees, keep God in the loop, only he can fix one's blunders.

Msg #1908 Prodigal Sons

Luke 15 is a chapter about lost things recovered and the rejoicing that follows the recovery. The one lost sheep, the lost coin, and finally the lost son, all capture Christ's lesson about publicans for the Pharisees. The prodigal son parable has application to all believers, any one of us could end up prodigal. Application of this parable may fit a lost sinner coming to Christ but the prodigal son was at the beginning and end a son. It is more fitting to a believer who turns his back on his father and walks into the Vice of this world, tangles with the Vulture who has him feeding swine, does not consider the Victims of his departure, and ends up Vexing his righteous soul. We all know them, and most of us have repeated Peter's line, “I would never do anything like that!” Vice is a powerful thing, that is why we call it that. In the military they were labeled WWWDG for Wine, Women, Weed, Drugs, and Gambling. We can name a preacher who got locked in each vice. The purpose of this parable is to point out the Victory available to any fallen believer. When they “come to themselves” the Father is waiting and the rejoicing begins. I've known few to come back, but we should be first to rejoice with them when they do. Perhaps the larger application it a warning to the wise, “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares” (Luke 21:34), and “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1Corinthians 10:12). Maintain your right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, lest you be prodigal, i.e. recklessly wasteful.

Msg #1909 What is Pneumatology?

It's been said, “You should never preach doctrine, but you should never preach without doctrine,” just the same, today there is a need to preach some pneumatology – the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:... Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:7-8,13).

When Jesus summarizes a subject, there is no greater summary. This one from John 16 plants the seeds for understanding the person of the Holy Ghost, the purpose of the Holy Ghost, and the methods of the Holy Ghost. In a Christian's proper relationship with God, the Holy Spirit of God, (“Holy Ghost” when used as the direct object in the Kings English) is not the manifestation of God, but He points us to the manifestation of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. He does not speak to us out loud, but speaks through the words of God that you read or have memorized.

I jotted in the margin near John 16, “The ministry of the Holy Spirit today, 1) Convict, 2) Convince, 3) Convert, 4) Confirm, and 5) Control, and He is essential in our 1) Worship, 2) Walk, 3) Work, 4) Warfare, and 5) Witnessing.” Be a student of what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

Msg #1910 AAAs of Repentance

In the days prior to the pending chastisement of Israel and Judah, God implores them to, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12). Evangelist Charles Finney (1792-1875) wrote eloquently on breaking up fallow ground in his, “Lectures on Revival” (see ccel.org for your free ebook copy), and in the stay of America's chastisement, achieved via our 2016 presidential election and expectant 2020 one, believers need to be busy breaking up fallow ground and sowing seeds of righteousness. Five times we are commissioned to do just that (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:46-48, John 20:21 and Acts 1:8) and Luke 24:47 declares “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” There is a movement afoot to poo-poo repentance but it is essential to God's Simple Plan of Salvation. In our AAA society filled with Atheism, Apostasy, and Apathy we need some AAAs of Repentance. True Biblical repentance must contain: 1) Awareness of Sin - in a Godless education with no Creator a harsh emphasis on one's SIN is now essential; 2) Admittance of Sin - “Do you think of yourself as a sinner?” is an important question to ask; 3) Abhorrence of Sin - A realization that sin causes an irreconcilable separation from God our Creator; 4) Abandonment of Sin - A sincere heart felt desire to get rid of that irreconcilable separation; and 5) Abstinence of Sin -. A sincere heart felt desire to “Go and sin no more.” The 1-2-3 pray after me methods are dangerous in the Bible ignorant society of today. Preach the Bible's old-fashioned repentance and remission of sins... while there is time.

Msg #1911 Except ye be converted...

“How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? (Heb. 2:3a)... We shall not! “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted... ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). Conversion is under-studied. The Bible ascribes true conversion to God, to the Word of God, to the sinner, and to the soul winner. Some try to eliminate a couple of these. Calvinists attribute it to a Sovereign God only, and highlight their proof verses, while ignoring the others. Two-hundred years ago Charles Finney rebukes these narrow minds in his, “Lectures on Revival.” He gives two great illustrations. A man points to a physician and says, “That man saved me.” The physician corrects, “It was the medicine that saved you.” But the man himself, who trusted the medicine, and took it faithfully, saved himself, and in actuality God overseeing the whole process is what saved him. All four can be ascribed to his salvation.

A man looking over the great precipice at Niagara sees another trudging blindly, as if in a stupor, towards the edge of the overview. Just as he lifts his foot towards the fatal plunge he yells with a loud shriek, “STOP!” At the last moment the man wakes from his stupor, violently swerves and saves himself from certain death. “That man saved me,” he could say. But the shrill warning, the frantic turn, and God's providence saved him. The Bible ascribes conversion to the soul-winner, the sinner's repentance, the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit. Sinner, God commands you to make a new heart, and if ever it is done, you must do it. If you do not, you will go to hell. Believer, give the warning, prescribe the cure, be a soul-winner. “He that winneth souls is wise” (Prov11:30b).

Msg #1912 ET Come Home

ET is cute and fun to si-fi around with, but make no mistake, to believe in the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence is blatantly anti-Christian and disturbingly anti-God. Consider first that there is only one thing in the rational mind of man that would drive such a belief, evolution. If life spontaneously generated and evolved by random chance in billions of years of statistical improbability, then the notion that it only happened on one star in the billions of stars of our galaxy, and the trillions of stars of all galaxies, is statistically impossible and a ludicrous supposition. Consider secondly if one believes in the spontaneous generation of life and evolution by random chance, they do not believe God and hold an anti-Christian, anti-God world view. There is no middle ground here. In truth our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Truth, created those trillions of stars on Wednesday, the fourth day of creation and captured that creative act in a byline of Genesis 1:16. He placed them in his finite created firmament to shew the handiwork of an infinite God (Psalm 19), and you have his Word on it. If you will believe his Word you could be a believer and may become a “Christian” (the noun for believing is “faith”). Deny it and you might hold to evolution and even ETs. The fall of mankind brought a curse upon the whole of God's universe. It, stars and all, presently groans under the weight of man's sin. Our infinite Creator became a human, a little lower than his own angels, in order to die in man's place and redeem man's soul. Despite Roswell in 1947, flying-saucers of Area 51, crop rings, abductions, and an Inca Citadel at Machu Picchu, a Bible believer must remain a Christ Jesus believer; no ET allowed.

Msg #1913 I'll Punch Your Lights Out

Our Lord Jesus Christ gives a somber warning to a church; He commands that they repent... or else!... “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” What is the horrid act that they are guilty of? What dastardly deed did this church do for our Lord to threaten to take out their light... quickly? It is less than you'd think. Listed after all their noble faithfulness, it is simply this, “Thou hast left thy first love.” I don't know what “Christians” are fighting and fussing about in your church, but I know the cause.

When one is first converted, born-again, saved from sin, there are some notable “first loves.” “If ye love me, keep my commandments.... If a man love me, he will keep my words... my sayings and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.... O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.... I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love” (John 14:15,23,24, Psalm 119:97,113). In this day of modernist, ecumenical, unbelieving translators, you'll need a love of the careful exactness found in the King's English as well. “I” is the nominative, 1^st person, singular, “me” the objective, as “thou” is the nominative, 2^nd person, singular, “thee” the objective. “Me think you-all can learn this, it was easy for I.” Let's just grow up a little.

Jesus also said, “We love the brethren... love one another... He that loveth his brother abideth in the light,... Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God” (1John 2-4). Love the church. Love giving. Remember your first love,... or repent.

Msg #1914 A Walk Thru Ten Gates

Nehemiah chapter three allows an informative stroll around the holy city that God loves, the city where Jehovah God chose to put his name. It begins, “Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the Sheep Gate.” If you will tour God's city you start as a sheep; “All we like sheep have gone astray; ... and the LORD hath laid on him (the Christ) the iniquity of us all... I (the Christ) am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine” (Isa 53:6, John 10:14). At the Fish Gate (vr.3) recall Christ's call to some fishermen, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” “The Old Gate repaired Jehoiada...” (vr,6) and God says, “Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls” (Jer 6:16).

Pass the Valley Gate and the Dung Gate (vr.13), hear David, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” The garbage goes out the Dung Gate, and Christian, don't pretend there's no garbage needing removed from your life.

The Fountain Gate (vr.14) recites, “With thee is the fountain of life:... I (the Christ) am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely” (Ps 36:9, Rev21:6). At the Water Gate (vr.26) recall how Christ loved the church “and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Eph 5:25-26).

The Horse Gate, East Gate, and Gate Miphkad all speak to us of our gathering at Christ's second coming. We've circled the city and that brings us back to the Sheep Gate (vr.32). Christ will soon divide between the sheep and the goats; in Isaiah 53:6 make sure you come in at the first “all” and come out at the second “all.”

Msg #1915 Alive After His Passion

For a Christian there is no more precious and holy time of year than the week surrounding the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's calendar around the sacrifice of his Only Begotten Son is extremely important. Christ was offered as our Passover Lamb and died on the cross of Calvary on Jewish Passover, the 14^th day of the Hebrew month Abib (Exod 12:6, Lev 23:5).

The Apostle John carefully points out in John 12 that six days before Passover, on the 8^th of Abib, Jesus came to Bethany and was there anointed with a pound of very costly ointment of spikenard. Then on the 9^th of Abib, the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death (12:10), and on the next day, the 10^th of Abib, the people coming to the Passover feast at Jerusalem, “Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet (Jesus), and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord” (12:13).

This triumphal acceptance of Jesus as the Christ, on the 10^th day of the Hebrew month Abib is important in God's calendar. “In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb.... And he shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening” (Exod 12:3, 6). Jehovah God exactly kept Passover calendar wherein Christ was chosen on Sunday the 10^th, was without blemish Monday – Wednesday, 11-13 Abib, and was then crucified and placed in a tomb on Thursday the 14^th. The 15^th was a Sabbath no matter the day of the week it fell on (Lev 23:6, John 19:31). So the women were kept from the tomb by two Sabbaths in a row and Christ was three days in the heart of the earth (Matt 12:40). This year read your Holy Bible and forsake Roman tradition; Lent, Ash Wednesday, and doing penance are not in the Bible either. God kept a careful calendar when he gave his only begottern Son as our Passover Lamb; he will bless if you accurately observe each day of this week according to his record in John 12-21. Your Wednesday midweek prayer service could take you to the garden prayer place after the Lord's supper. Watch his calendar closely and may God especially bless your Easter this year.

Msg #1916 Notre Dame

When an eight-hundred year old symbol called, “Our Lady of Paris” burns the very week that Christians acknowledge the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, it begs audience for God's question, “Can you hear me now?” That burning steeple, designed to lift all eyes to the heavens which declare the glory of God, crashes into the smoldering rubbish of mans religious confusion about who created the heaven and earth. The stench of smoking ash rises over Christian's most holy week and a billion Euros is promised to restore the icon of Catholic Mariology. Can a world that rejects Jehovah God as their creator, rejects that God created man in his image and after his likeness, rejects the Only Begotten Son of God as the Messiah, the Christ, and now even rejects God's Word that “male and female created he them,” could such a world restore Notre Dame Cathedral? What God dashed to the ground in a smoldering rubble will not be restored. The king's of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD (Jehovah), and his anointed (Christ), saying, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” ... He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision (Psalm 2). It will be interesting to watch a bunch of secular, socialist, modernists try to rebuild a French, Roman Catholic, Cathedral, but the icon is gone forever, and Christianity itself is gone from society. Gone, until the Judge of all the earth, Jesus Christ the Righteous, returns to establish his Kingdom. Jesus said it would be as it was in the days of Sodom,... it would be Laodicean, in a final state of apostasy... and here we are. Even so come, Lord Jesus.

Msg #1917 Check Your Starting Gate

Who hath ears to hear, let him hear the first seven parables Jesus gave illustrating that the kingdom of heaven, in his new-covenant, would be despised and rejected of men. After almost two-thousand years believers can understand how it ends with his question, “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” In Matthew 13, where Jesus begins teaching with parable so that his disciples would understand, but the great multitudes that thronged him would not, the first seven parables are given. Leading off with ears of man likened to wayside soil, stony places, among thorns, and some good ground. Jesus acknowledges only one in four will understand his gospel, the word of the kingdom. The first throws the gospel message aside. The next, “anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath no root in himself.” The third, “the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.” Only the one beareth fruit: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.” Jesus says, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit (my Father) taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” The Apostle Peter clarifies that fruit comes when the believer gives diligence to “add to your faith ...” (2Peter 1:5-9). Is your loved one, friend, or neighbor saved and his disciple? The hard fact that Jesus gave previously is, “the tree is known by his fruit.” Jesus continues with parables of tares, mustard seeds, leaven, treasures, pearls, and nets, but the theme is the same, “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Be sure you, and they, came through the right starting gate.

Msg #1918 Building and Growing

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,... And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge” (2Pet1:4-5). So many “Christians” add nothing to their faith that sometimes the growing believer wonders if they even got the faith. Others add all seven of Peter's building blocks so fast that a believer asks, “Why haven't I grown that fast?” Building the edifice capped with charity takes time and deserves our diligence. Like laying up a brick wall, three base bricks of faith can support two bricks of virtue, that supports one brick of knowledge. Sketch the picture. Eager to see growth, people often try to cram in lots of brick toward the top but more faith, topped with more virtue is necessary to support another brick of knowledge.

This is a good model for what Peter is explaining. Top heavy walls topple over because of insufficient foundation, and wall-building grinds to a halt when new blocks of faith and virtue are not added. Adding more than three layers at a time squishes mortar out of the unset lower layers. These first three layers, Faith, Virtue, and Knowledge, all come from the Word; “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.... Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.... The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Rom10:17, Psalm119:9, Prov1:7).

A man, destined for great things, read the whole Bible in the three weeks after his salvation; one destined for mediocrity, had not read it through to this day. Add to your faith; add to your virtue;... build diligently.

Msg #1919 Keep Building, Keep Growing

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31). Peter prescribed the building blocks the believer uses to continue in Christ's Word and be a disciple indeed (2Peter 1:5-7). “Faith” is the noun form of the verb “believe,” so in essence Peter says add to your “things believed” virtue; and to “strength and moral excellence” knowledge; and to your Bible knowledge temperance; and to your “habitual moderation and restraint in regard to indulgence of natural appetites and passions, i.e. calmness and sedateness” add patience; and to “suffering afflictions, pain, toil, and calamity with calm unruffled temper and endurance without murmuring or fretfulness” add godliness; and to “reverence for God's character and his law, testimonies, ways, precepts, statutes, commandments, righteous judgments, and Word” add ... Well, it would be wise to let the mortar set under those five layers before we start adding the last two. Recall in our staggered wall building model it takes six blocks of faith, i.e. things believed, to add these five layers of “things.” Faith cometh by hearing the Word, but notice that these last three layers of a disciple's growth come from life, and struggle, and trials of your faith. That mortar needs to set and some maturity needs to come before brotherly kindness and charity can rest securely on a stable disciple who is not carried about by every wind of doctrine. This week add another block of faith and give all diligence to “add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness...” We will mix more mortar and pick up the trowel again next week. Oh, Moms, Happy Mothers Day.

Msg #1920 On Eight Blocks of Faith

A working model of what the Apostle Peter advised, “Giving all diligence, add to your faith...” (2Peter1:5-) is found in how a mason adds layers of bricks into a wall. Each new brick must be supported by two bricks and as the mason adds the first brick to the seventh layer there needs to be eight foundation bricks in place at the base. Now add one new brick in each layer until a second top brick is added. When a person adds to their faith they have a saving faith to begin with and they begin building a life for Christ. Continuing in the Word adds faith, virtue, and knowledge. Struggles of life and trials of faith adds temperance, patience, and godliness. Peter's prescribed brotherly kindness is added with maturity, towards the top of our construction.

Some people are so stuck on themselves they never see others. Some talk incessantly until they say, “Well that's enough about me, what do you think of me?” Spiritual leadership is not dictating to others it is ministering to others. Once a believer has, with maturity, added to their faith the first five things, they can add brotherly kindness, that temperament which delights in contributing to the happiness of others, which is exercised cheerfully in gratifying their wishes, supplying their wants or alleviating their distresses. Noah Webster says, “Kindness ever accompanies love”, and 2Peter 1:7 says the seventh layer added to our faith, resting on that kindness, is to be “Charity.”

These seven things need added to your faith, built one upon the other. “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ... for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall” (vr.8,10).

Msg #1921 False Teachers and Scoffers

“This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:... Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers” (2Pet 3:1,3). In this little epistle the Apostle Peter establishes four things for the genuine believer: 1) Give all diligence to add to your faith; 2) We hold in our hands the Scriptures which is a more sure word of prophecy; 3) There shall be false teachers among you; and 4) There shall be scoffers among you. False teachers and scoffers are making inroads into our Baptist circles.

In six days God created the heaven and the earth and all that in them is, but “Gaptists” deny God's truth and wedge in a million “geologic ages.” They also twist Scripture to support fiction about a previous cataclysmic divine judgment.

Many Baptist are now even denying the pretribulational rapture of the Church. They abandon the solid Biblical dispensational position grasping at the Catholic-Protestant and Calvinist Covenant / Replacement theologies.

Even cultic sects of Nephilimites find homes in Baptist Churches as they suppose that angels bred with humans and these half-breed nephilim-giants are why God is angry with this world. They think the flood was just for nephilims. They conjecture that those nephilims were in Canaan land, and are surely in Washington DC today. In God's Word redeemed men are called “Sons of God” and only humans procreate in sin. I'll not give space to falt-earthers, earth-centrics, lunar landing deniers, and other cunningly devised fables. Don't sit in the seat of these Bible twisting scorners.

False teachers and scoffers do indeed abound in these last day. Stay in the Book, add to your faith, avoid internet-truth, and preach repentance with your gospel message, just like Jesus did.

Msg #1922 Being a Friend of God.

“ Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.... Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.... Art not thou our God, who... gavest (the land) to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? (James 2:23, Isa 41:8, 2Chron 20:7). Abraham was a friend of God, ... Israel, his grandson, not so much, and all Israel his chosen nation not at all.

How are you doing at being a friend of God? With the Lord Jesus Christ available as an Intercessor, and the Holy Spirit of God as an indwelling Comforter, it is easier today for you to be a friend of God than it was for Abraham himself. So, how are you doing?... Evangelist Bennett this week gave us five reasons WHY Abraham was a friend of God. Abraham believed God. So much so that Romans 4:20 says, “He staggered not at the promise of God...” Abraham obeyed God, it says so in Hebrews 11:8. Abraham worshiped God building an alter in Genesis 12:7,8 and 18. Worship is not a simple thing, it is an all-you-got thing. The Bible's very first mention of worship falls under Abraham's offering of his only begotten son. In that one trial Abraham believed, obeyed, worshiped, and feared. Genesis 22:12 captures that fourth ingredient for Abe's friendship with God, “For now I know that thou fearest God.”

Finally, if you have a friend, you will walk with him through life. “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.... Arise, walk through the land... Abraham and Isaac did walk (before God)...” (Genesis 17:1, 13:17, 48:15). “Henceforth... I have called friends” (John 15:15). Walk with your friend, fear him, worship him, obey him, believe him.

Msg #1923 Christ's Love Will Stand, Will You?

Christians should be as separated as the Israelite, the Levite, the Aaronic priest, the Temple, and even the OT prophet, but it is comforting that tribulation, distress, and persecution cannot separate us from the love of Christ. A believer will face this trio in their Christian walk. They are listed in Romans 8:35 because they have a mind toward separation. They can cause a believer to fall, even fall away, but they are pointed out here because any failings they cause are not on the part of Christ's love. Famine, nakedness, and peril are listed as well, and the sword, listed last, is likely wielded by a nation not by a neighbor. On a physical plane all seven of these might be encountered by a believer; the first three are promised.

A list of ten, more intense, more spiritual things is pending so pause before verse 38 and be sure your faith will not falter when these seven things assail our life. They cannot cause the love of Christ to falter, but according to Matthew 13 stony-soil and thorny-soil will succumb to such an onslaught.

God lists the seven physical things because they can impact the weak-kneed believer. Be assured of Christ's love when you encounter them and purpose a forehand that they will not cause you to fall, fail, or quit. Recall the Psalmist's herald, “ I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalm 37:25). The Apostle Peter said, add things to your faith ... “ for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall” (2Peter 1:5-11). The Apostle Paul, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand...” (Eph 6). Above all, stand.

Msg #1924 Biblical, Godly Fathers

In God's economy good fathers are first to be good husbands with over a year's practice of selfless-love and Godly leadership in the home. There, with the wife of his youth, who has vowed submission and obedience to her husband, he is to practice and hone the three primary leadership skills: 1) Keep the main thing the main thing and plan each day and year towards goal fulfillment. 2) Include and motivate all individual participants; and 3) Meet all group needs for progress and success, and all individual needs of accomplishment and fulfillment; i.e. be a need-meeter. There are natural leaders, but most of us need to cognitively focus, labor, and train intensely on these three principles of leadership.

Add a child to this Godly endeavor and fathers can add three more challenges: 1) Hold onto the child's heart, “My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways” (Proverbs 23:26). The Proverb's proceeding three verses tell how, the trailing six failure's tragic consequence. 2) “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov 22:6). Fathers who did not properly heed the spankings called for in Proverbs 13:24,17:6,25, 19:18,22:15,23:13, 14, 29:15 and 17 try to say that 22:6 is a principle not a promise, but it sure enough is God's Word. 3) “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph 6:4). A child without discipline has lifetime anger issues, authority issues, and acceptance issues, and we have raised such a triple-A generation by ignoring God's rules in home and child-rearing. God can fix your home. God can fix your child. In some cases, God alone. Happy Fathers Day.

Msg #1925 Christ's Love Will Stand, Part II

Romans 8 closes with seventeen things that vie for your separation from God, and the last ten are on a spiritual plane. None will separate us from the love of Christ, but all are enemies that contend for your soul. The list leads with Death. It is swallowed up in victory and lost its sting! The sting of death is sin and our Lord Jesus Christ purchased that victory (1Cor15:54-57). Life itself also contends for all of our attention, and Jesus' counsel is, “Take no thought for your life... seek ye the kingdom of God” (Luke12:22,31). Angels, Principalities, and Powers make the list. It was an “angel” that gave “another-gospel,” the Koran, to Mohammad in a cave near Mecca, and an “angel” gave “another-gospel,” the book-of-Mormon, to Joseph Smith in Palmyra NY. They are accursed (Gal 1:8). Principalities and Powers are dealt with in Ephesians 6:12. We war in a time dimension, i.e. Things-Present, Things-to-Come. Fretting is an art crafted by those not trusting Christ. Lastly, it is sobering how many “Christians” enter the Height-of-ignorance, or the Depth-of-foolishness. Believing in a flat-earth, gaps in creation and Nethinims, or salvation by election cannot separate us from the love of Christ, but it sure makes one an ineffective and side-tracked servant. Any-other-creature, the tenth spiritual enemy listed, answers for the height-of-ignorance that supposes martians, space-aliens, or extraterrestrials might exist in God's made-for-man universe. These ten spiritual entities strive to separate us from our Lord. None can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. They can, however, separate us from service and fellowship. “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1Pet 1:13).

Msg #1926 Protestant Apostasy Roots

The haughty Gentile “theologian” who believes God took promises from Israel and now applies them to a Holy Catholic Church, believes God elects souls for salvation and others for damnation, believes God only has one covenant and it is with the Catholic Church, and rejects Christ's Millennial Reign and pre-tribulation rapture, does not know God. They cannot know him until they discard such Presbyterian-Calvinist-Reformed dribble. A Bible believer reading Romans 9 sees Paul lay out his soul with a passionate love for Israel. Gentiles, shame on their haughtiness, are only grafted in to the Israelite, “to whom pertaineth the adoption.” Roman Catholic Church Father Augustine (354-430AD) supposed Israel was un-adopted! Verse 4 continues, to Israel pertaineth the glory, and that glory is the glory of God. To Israel pertaineth the covenants (plural); the Calvinist who supposes there is only one covenant is clearly apostate. To Israel pertaineth the giving of the law. Paul noted earlier, “... unto them were committed the oracles of God” (Rom3:2). Israelites wrote all sixty-six Books! To Israel pertaineth the service of God; Israel was elect for this service. Election is always for service, and never for salvation. To Israel pertaineth the promise. Roman Saint Origen (182-254AD), founder of the vile Roman Catholic Allegorical Method, used it to twist and malign God's promises to Israel, trying to fit them to a contorted, convoluted, catholic church. The Vatican still supposes that it, not Israel, will rule all nations, and that there is no Millennial Reign of Christ from the throne of David in the hill of Zion. All Protestants are entangled in their gross error and all Calvinists are in bed with Rome “giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1Tim 4:1-2). The latter times are upon us; be careful for sound doctrine.

Msg #1927 Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem

There are certain men crept in unawares, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into Calvinism. Israel was never to be replaced by the church; Vatican be cursed, Calvinism be gone. Paul's heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved (Rom 10:1), and Romans 9 has nothing to do with John Calvin's ludicrous notion that God elect a few souls for heaven and the rest for hell. Not one ounce of Romans 9 can support such an outlandish hypothesis. Paul first lists eight golden qualities of the Israelite (9:4-5), and then seven considerations of why “The Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness” (9:30-31).

Not all Israel are of Israel (vr.6-9), and for Esau, the elder served the younger as was prophesied in the womb (vr.10-13). Calvinists twist scripture to suppose God hated Esau in the womb, but God hated Esau for his being profane (Heb 12:16-17). Tis true God can harden hearts, he did Pharaoh (vr.15-18), but one dare not reply against God for that (vr.19-23). Many are called and few chosen (vr.24, cf Matt20:16, 22:14), and Gentiles were thus graffed in (vr.25-26, cf 11:19-25). Finally, a remnant of Israel are indeed saved (vr.27), and all of us, Jew or Gentile could have ended as did Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha (vr.28-29).

What shall we say then? Paul loved Israel, Presbyterians hate Israel, and by their fruits ye shall know them. My heart's desire and prayer to God for Presbyterians, their Calvinism, Covenant, and Replacement Theology, is that they might be saved. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Be careful for sound doctrine.

Msg #1928 Paint Your Church Sign?

Romans chapter 10 begins, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” And it goes on to detail exactly how the Jew and the Gentile must submit themselves unto the righteousness of God by faith, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (vr.4). This epistle was written to the Romans, and yet it was the church at Rome that became the stronghold of Satan and ended in the situation that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Ergo the Pope is NOT Christian, and Protestants did not protest enough. Jews persecuted the church, but not to the extent that Rome did, and both pale before the persecutions of the “Holy” Roman Catholic Church. In the 16^th century Martin Luther was dutifully applying the Roman Catholic allegorical method to Romans 1:16-17 when he protested, but America was founded because of the persecutions of Luther, Zwingly, Knox and Calvin. These men left Rome but carried Rome's Replacement Theology, persecution complex, and hatred of God's chosen nation Israel. Contrast that with the first verses of Romans 10 (or 9 or 11) and the true believer can see the ugly irony. Baptists are not Protestants, do not baptize babies, replace Israel, persecute others, or salute John Calvin. Nor dare they hobnob with ecumenical counsels that print modernist bibles and tolerate such failed doctrine. Romans 10:9-13 is the hallmark for submitting yourself unto the righteousness of God by faith; there is no penance, there is no election, and there is a “whosoever.” Many church signs need “Baptist” painted over if they will not take hold of these truths.

Msg #1929 The Genesis of Sin I

In six days God created the universe that we know. Each evening, and twice on Tuesday, God observed that it was good. On the sixth day he created man in his image and likeness. Saturday was man's first day of existence and it was a day of rest. Sunday was the first day of the first week of the universe's existence and it found Adam and Eve at peace with their environment, at peace with each other, and at peace with their Creator. They called it shalome.

When God, during the six day creation period, created the heavens (plural), “and all that in them is”, he created the heavenly hosts. One group of these heavenly hosts were called angels and the triune God who created man as a trichotomy, with body, soul, and spirit, organized his angels under three archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer. The latter of these three rebelled against God and determined to pull God's favored in creation into his rebellion.

Satan, the opposer of God, as fallen Lucifer got labeled, entered into the most subtle creature to entice man from his blessed position. The woman, the weaker vessel, listened to his arguments. God was withholding good! She needed that knowledge of good and evil! Adam and Eve left their trust in their Creator, disobeyed him, and took fruit from the forbidden tree. The consequence of trusting Satan and disobeying God was immediate shame, fear, and broken peace. The peace they had with their environment was broken, the peace and trust they had with each other was broken, and the peace and fellowship they had with their creator was broken. Sin in the Garden of Eden, and in our world today, destroys our harmony with nature, with each other, and with God. It's universal....

Msg #1930 The Genesis of Sin II

The consequences of sin reach into every area and relationship of life. Sin is associated with an evil power that pursues humanity's harm. Sin is disobedience to God. Sin is destructive in its results. Sin calls for judgment from God and his justice requires its punishment.

The universal devastating consequence of sin is emphasized in all that the LORD pronounced in sin's inception. The serpent was cursed, crawled on his belly, ate dust, and terrified women. He would one day have his head kicked in by the “seed of woman.” The woman had multiplied sorrow and was to be ruled by the husband. The man saw the ground he was made from cursed, in sorrow he would eat its fruit, it would require the sweat of his brow, and in time consume the body God had put him in....

As God's saga of sin's destructive consequences unfolds... humanity's firstborn son, becomes the first first degree murderer. The tiller of the ground does not pay a life for a life, but God curses the ground to the firstborn of Adam, more so than it was previously. It needs to be recognized early on that this firstborn “seed” held promise for being the one who was to “bruise” the head of Satan, and Satan, the evil power that pursues humanity's harm, was indeed involved in the ruin of God's firstborn and second-born options for man's redemption.

The fourth chapter of Genesis closes with God starting up a whole new seed-line, a Godly line, that would bring in one to kick in Satan's head.... The introduction of this new seed-line is crystal clear in Scripture. “For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.... then began men to call upon the name of the LORD (Genesis 4:24-26).

Msg #1931The Genesis of Sin III

It does not surprise the genuine Bible student that the Godly line of man, those that call upon the name of the LORD, are to be called the “sons of God.” There is staged in this Genesis of sin some clear battle lines wherein that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, strategically tries to destroy every seed-line of God. This pursuit to destroy the seed-line of God's promised Messiah is prophesied in the Serpent's ability to bruise his heel, and is a central theme threaded throughout the Old Testament. Satan is nipping at the heels of the Messiah all through this saga. Ultimately Satan fails in this endeavor and the Messiah, the Christ, is alive, victorious over sin and death, crushing Satan's head.

The fifth chapter of Genesis also recites “and he died” seven times and therein emphasizes that the wages of sin is death. It further gives the entire history of man in a careful, traceable, year-by-year documentation. For the Bible believer there is no prehistoric event. Finally after 1,556 years of God's recorded history of humanity in sin, “It repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth” (Genesis 6:6).

God's summary of man's fallen estate and his depravity in sin is, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (6:5). After the world flood, and its cataclismic affect on man's environment, God assigns man the task of keeping man's gross appetite for sin in check. God commands Noah, “Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (9:6).

Msg #1932 The Kingdom of God is Nigh at Hand

The Roman Epistle is a dissertation on how the righteousness of God dovetails with the miraculous salvation of man. It is a very tight fit, and only works out “through the forbearance of God” (Rom 3:25b.) A second theme is found as God repeatedly emphasizes the place of his chosen people Israel. Chapter 11 begins, “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid!...” With the swamp waters of DC getting pretty low there are all kinds of ugly creatures exposed and wiggling around in the mud; none is uglier than the liberal left's hatred for Israel. Such hatred aligns well with Muslim goals and unfortunately fits with the antisemitism of Roman and Protestant denominations. Romans 11 assures that there is coming a national salvation of Israel. Individual salvation comes via Romans 10:9-10, “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek” (Rom 10:12). Protestant denominations, including the Reformed, are ignorant of this mystery and wise in their own conceits, not realizing that there is coming an end for the time of the Gentiles, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Romans 11:25,26).

One cannot rightly divide the Word of Truth until they see the difference between the judgment of individuals and the judgment of the nations. Ergo we should study to shew ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. The USA will eventually turn against Israel, thankfully, under President Donald Trump, it will not be today, and prayerfully it will not be in 2020. The Bible believer will never turn against God's chosen people Israel. Study this out, and watch the Fig Tree (Luke 21:29-33).

Msg #1933 Just Preach Jesus as Christ.

Romans 12 begins with a plea that, if saved from condemnation, a Christian be a living burnt-sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. A burnt-sacrifice is “all-in” with no part or portion held back. Holy signifies a perfectly pure and complete moral character. “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God” (Lev 20:7), “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1Pet 1:15-16). Being acceptable requires a thorough knowledge of God, his law, testimonies, ways, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments, i.e. his Word. Now that, says the Apostle Paul, is only a reasonable service, so he further charges that we “be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” It's been said, “When an idiot gets saved, what you have is a saved idiot.” But Paul's charge confers that one change; there is to be a transformation, yea there must be. Transformation cannot produce salvation, but salvation produces a transformation. The world hates when you won't conform. Sodomites adopting children MUST be accepted. Lizards evolving to eagles MUST be truth. Cars burning corn is good, cows burning corn is bad, conform to their stupidity or be hated, ostracized and destroyed. Jesus is Truth and thy hate him. Jesus said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John15:18). Deal with it; don't conform. They'll say guns produce the depravity of man and carbon dioxide you exhale is destroying the planet. One algae bloom in the Pacific can digest the whole carbon footprint of America, but facts will not sway a reprobate mind, the Lord Jesus Christ can. Just preach Jesus as Christ.

Msg #1934 Gifts Measured By Your Faith

Romans 12 lists the seven gifts given for the edification of the church. Charismatics and other mislead groups are told to “pursue your spiritual gifts” and are given the list of nine gifts boasted by the most carnal church in the whole New Testament. The Apostle Paul reprimands fifteen ailments of the carnal church in fifteen chapters of his letter to Corinth. The twelfth is the misuse of gifts and it is not wise to use Corinth's boasted gift list as a model. Romans 12 says, “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith.” Gifts are in each local church so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. They are given to edify, strengthen, and perfect the saints. They are given “in measure.” The Holy Ghost is not given in measure, praise the Lord, but faith, because it cometh by hearing, and doing, and and adding, is given in measure. Thus these seven gifts are given in measure. That is why we prophecy, i.e. stand and say “Thus saith the Lord...”, “according to the proportion of faith.” That is why we “wait on our ministering... on our teaching... on our exhortation.” You enhance your gift by growing your faith, ... you must ultimately “add to your faith...” (2Peter 1). Gregory's “Seven Laws of Teaching” (or Hendricks' revision) won't hurt, but your gift grows as your faith grows. Giving, ruling, shewing mercy, these gifts are given according to the measure of your faith. If you desire spiritual gifts, use this list from Romans 12, grow your faith, and follow after charity. It is quite simple, really. For the good of your local church, do something to grow your faith this week.

Msg #1934a Speak Up At State Fairs

While touring the “Center of Progress” building at the NYS Fair, I, a Baptist Preacher of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, was invited to speak at three of the booths. The gargantuan Green New Deal booth invited me to speak on who it was that created the Universe, controls the climate, and will soon judge mankind about what they did with His Only Begotten Son. They only gave me 3 minutes. A huge Rainbow booth invited me to speak for over a half hour on Sodom and Gomorrah, their sin of Sodomy, and their need of a Saviour who could save them from their sin. Their Bible ignorance was overwhelming; some Presbyterian Church had told them that sodomy was not a sin, that all people go to heaven and that there is no hell. They had never in their lives heard John 3:16-18 and 36 quoted out loud. I rehearsed it for them no less than five times before they became intolerant. Turns out they tolerate everybody except kind, soft-spoken, gentle, old, Bible quoting Baptist Preachers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, ... and they absolutely HATE, and openly preach hate for, the President of our United States. I invite every Independent Baptist Preacher in Upstate NY to visit their Rainbow booth and use to the full their invitation to talk openly about sodomy. Lastly I was invited to speak some words of encouragement at a tiny-tiny, 4x8' booth called The Amazing Grace Soul-Winner's booth. While two booths invited me to leave, Amazing Grace invited us to stay. I love the NYS Fair.

While at the Amazing Grace Soul-Winner's booth I shared a riddle that Dr. Gardner developed back in the nineteen-hundreds and used effectively to bring people into the booth from clear across the room. Here is the riddle:

“What is IT? If you eat IT you will die! IT is bigger than God! IT is older than Earth! If you do IT you go to hell! ... What is IT?

Msg #1935 Things to Behold

Sunday my pastor of forty-years ago, Marvin Mungle preached some things we need to carefully Behold. Pilot started the thought in John 19 “Behold the man... Behold your king.” Isaiah 53 showed that the old rugged cross was necessary, vicarious, voluntary, and the supreme need of sinners. Behold the sinner. He is described in Ephesians as dead, yet walking according to this world, its prince, and the spirit that works disobedience... by nature the children of wrath. Consider too, all have sinned, all have come short. Behold the Love of God. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God” (1John 3:1a). Again Ephesians says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us....” Further, God “so” loved the world.

Behold the Saviour. Luke 2 gives a personal message, “Behold I bring you good tidings...” a present message, “unto you is born this day,” and a precious message, “A Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Precious because, “Neither is there salvation in any other” (Acts 4:12) and also, “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness...” (1Tim 3:16). Behold the sacrifice,... Behold the Lamb of God. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins” (Heb 1:4),... “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things... But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish...” (1Pet 1:18-19). All must look to the Lamb of God.

Behold the invitation. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” That invitation is still open.

Msg #1936 Twenty Christian Characteristics

Romans 12:9-16 gives twenty practical tips on how to present your bodies a living sacrifice. Bible lists are easy to preach and everyone can take the outline, highlight it, and review it annually on their trek through their Bible. It is tough to preach a list of twenty in forty minutes and impossible to essay them in three-hundred words, so I'll highlight a few. Love without dissimulation is tough on our old nature because all of its love is selfish and fake. Genuine love and brotherly kindness, #1&4 of 20, are capstones of Peter's “Add to Your Faith” lecture (2Peter 1:5-7). A brotherly-kindness temperament which delights in contributing to the happiness of others, exercised cheerfully in gratifying their wishes, supplying their wants and alleviating their distresses, ... cheerfully I say..., is a rare commodity. Cleave to that which is good, #3 of 20, should bring to mind Philippians 4:8, Paul's list of things to perpetually think on. Not slothful in business is reinforced in eight Proverbs, and rejoicing in hope, in a dozen Psalms like 38:15, “For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.”

Condescend to men of low estate, #19 of 20, means descending from opinion of superior rank and behaving on the redeemed level, as a sinner saved by grace. When people are beneath you, soul winning efforts are stymied. Lastly, be not wise in your own conceits, 20 of 20, references an old nature present in us all, and it carries us all the way back to verse 3 of this chapter, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think...” These twenty characteristics should be regularly exhibited by every Christian.

Msg #1937 Living Peaceably

Romans 12 concludes with seven points a living sacrifice needs to live peaceably in a world that is not our home. With America only one vote away from Marxist socialism you can put it down that for the born-again living sacrifice, there are troublous times ahead. Living peaceably in troublous times was possible when Rome threw thousands of believers to the lions, challenging when the Roman Church threw millions to the flames, and is possible for believers in any age. The precedent for doing it is set in the first two points, “Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.” (Rom 12:17). The possibility is given legroom in the third point, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men” (vr.18). Obviously, living peaceably with all men will not always be possible, and various levels of what “lieth in you” will affect how many non-peaceable entities you are living with. A living sacrifice must choose its battles carefully. God's fourth point is sacrosanct, “Avenge not yourselves.” Knowing this is a tough one, God gives a fifth point to help us with it, “Give place unto wrath.” One can be angry and sin not, but when your fist connects with your neighbor's nose, wrath is out of its place, you are in sin. Heaping coals of fire on an enemy's head is not a form of vengeance, it is engaging his brain and bringing God's conviction. Lastly, one can be overcome of evil, and one can overcome evil with good, choose you this day which direction you will go. There are steps to take if a living sacrifice would live peaceably in a distraught world. They are given in Romans 12 on purpose. Mark them. Live them.

Msg #1938 Living Peaceably With Government

“I don't think that word means what you think it means,” is a good thought for Romans 13:1, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” God established the powers of government, but God did not hand pick Governor Cuomo, the reprobate that called for all Christians not supporting abortion on demand, to get out of NY State. The office was “ordained” by God, but Cuomo was hand picked by voters, not by God. President Trump was not “ordained” by God to be our president. President Trump was most certainly put into that “ordained” office in answer to Christian's prayers, but be careful with what is “ordained” and what that word means. If you know John Calvin and look up each use of that English word in your Bible you will be as confused as him. Get and use a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance to do your word studies. God chose Gentiles to receive salvation, not choosing the “whosoevers” that attain salvation, that is corporate election, and God ordained offices of government, not choosing the individuals, good or evil, that sit in those offices. There is not an ounce of fatalism in this Bible so don't allow an ounce of it into your Christian doctrine. Romans 13 teaches Christians to submit to governing authorities and to pay taxes, “Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour” (vr.7). Then verse 8 tells us to pay our debts and recognize the debt of love that we owe to all mankind. Government promotes good, punishes evil, and protects the innocent, live peaceably with it, while being a minister of reconciliation.

Msg #1939 The Last October?

September 30, 2019 is Rosh Hashanah, Hebrew for “head of the year.” Depending on the phase of the moon the Biblical seventh month falls in our late September and according to Leviticus 23:24 marks “a memorial of blowing trumpets.” This “Feast of Trumpets,” where Israel is called together for holy convocations, and sabbath days, is significant to Christians because we are also listening for a trumpet that will call us together (1 Cor 15:52, 1Thes 4:16-17, Rev 1:10, 4:1). The tenth of the month is Yom Kippur, the 'Day of Atonement' (Lev 23:27-28), and is significant to Christians because Christ is our Atonement and our redemption also draweth nigh (Luke 21:8, 28). The fifteenth day starts the seven day feast of tabernacles (Lev 23:34), denoting our temporary tabernacle here. This is significant to Christians because this world is not our home (John 17:11-13, Hebrews 11:9-10).

These blasts of the trumpets are the wake-up call to repent before it is to late. For the nation of Israel their redemption draweth nigh, for the born-again Christian the rapture of Christ's church draweth nigh. In Scripture Christ first returns “for” his saints, and then returns “with” his saints. In between, the wrath of God will be poured out on this world in seven years of great tribulation (Matt24:21,29, Mark 13:24, Rev 16). According to three 5:9s in 1Thes, Romans and Hebrews, his Church will not taste that wrath. The seven year tribulation ends with a Battle of Armageddon and the redemption of Israel. No man knows the day nor the hour, but there is coming a last October in this dispensation, this age of grace, the Church age. Be ye ready, and watch ye therefore, … We at GSBC are in the 21^st annual “Hunt for the Last October Bible Prophecy Conference.”

Msg #1940 Then Shall be Great Tribulation

The next tick on God's prophetic time clock is the rapture of Christ's church out of this world wherein we meet him in the air and “so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1Thes 4:13-18). For the church, the second coming of Christ is divided into two distinctions, when he comes “for” his church at the rapture, and when he comes “with” all his saints at the battle of Armageddon. In between these two comings of Christ there “shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt 24:21). In the first of the Apostle Paul's epistles he is clear that Christ will be coming “for” his saints (1Thes 4:13-18) and then “with” all his saints (1Thes 3:12-13). The last Bible writings to the churches describes this coming “with” all his saints using the line, “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean” (Rev 19:14). Revelation 19 then describes the ensuing battle of Armageddon, “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army” (Rev 19:19). The battle is named in Revelation 16:16 and comes about after the seven seals are opened, the seven trumpets have sounded, and the seven golden vials full of the wrath of God are poured out upon the earth, sea, rivers, sun, seat of the beast, the great river Euphrates, and air (Rev 16). That catastrophic “climate change” and “global warming” has nothing to do with carbon-dioxide that we exhale and everything to do with the rebellion against Jehovah God that we exhale. The born-again miss this tribulation period, PTL.

Msg #1941 Rapture then the Marriage Supper

When the rapture of the church occurs the removal of the saints, each being indwelt by the Holy Ghost, will constitute a significant removal of the Holy Spirit of God from world affairs. This is spoken of in 2Thes 2. Saints are gathered together unto him (vr.1), the day of Christ is at hand (vr.2), but first there is a falling away and the “man of sin” is revealed (vr.3). It is the presence of the Holy Ghost that prevents that wicked from being revealed (vr.6-8), and that presence is predominately (perhaps completely) via the presence of his born-again indwelt believers. The sequence of events for the end times is laid out very clearly here. The saints are raptured out, the day of Christ is at hand, the abomination of desolation is revealed, then we find in the Revelation of Jesus Christ that the wrath of God is poured out, and the Lord Jesus Christ rides in to the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16, 19). In any event, it is the rapture of the church that starts the ball rolling.

After the rapture Christian's works are judged before they go to the marriage supper of the Lamb. “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, ... for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready... Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. ” (1Cor 3:13, Rev 19:7, 9). After the marriage supper of the Lamb,“I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, .... And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean” (Rev 19:11, 14). It all fits.

Msg #1942 Seven Years, Jacob's Trouble

The LORD spake these words to Jeremiah the prophet, “Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it” (Jer 30:7). And Jesus said of that day, “For then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt 24:21). This trouble and tribulation for Israel is centered in a seven year period often called the 70^th week of Daniel. God prophetically laid out his plans for Israel with the revelation, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city” (Dan 9:24). Each week was a seven year period, and sixty-nine weeks were fulfilled exactly as God said. The last seven year period, the 70^th week of Daniel 9, was not fulfilled, but will be, exactly as prophesied.

In the first 1,260 days, forty-two months (Rev11:3,2, 13:5 Dan12:11), time-times-and-a-half-time (Dan12:7, Rev12:14), or 3½ years of the seven, seven seals are removed from the book of judgment, and then seven trumpets announce and demonstrate how bad it is going to get when the book is actually opened (Rev 6, 8-9). The exact middle of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, verse 202-of-404, marks the very middle of this seven year period. The indestructible witnesses are destroyed and caught up to heaven (Rev11), Satan is booted out (Rev12:8, or verse 202-of-404), and the abomination of desolation is revealed as Jerusalem is abandoned by enlightened Jews (Matt24:15-26). In the next 1,260 days, forty-two months, or 3½ years, complete chaos ensues and the seven vials of the wrath of God are poured upon the earth (Rev 16). The Battle of Armageddon immediately ensues (Rev19). Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Msg #1943 The Battle of Armageddon

“Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity... for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy... Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling ... in that day, I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem ...Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, ... For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle;.. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations,.. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which .. shall cleave in the midst thereof... and there shall be a very great valley. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon” (Isa26:20-21, Zeph3:8, Zech12:2,9, 14:1-4, Rev16:16). The world mocks the Battle of Armageddon, and Christians fail to comprehend its reality. The Genesis of sin crescendos for heathen nations until the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18-19, and for God's chosen nation with the judgment of Sodomites in Judges 19-20. This year NYS congressmen passed a law that they could use the ladies room and that counseling sodomy as sin is considered hate speech.¹ Democrats report that over 50% of Americans favor socialism, abortion-on-demand, and their sodomite agenda. Perhaps the USA is the great eagle of Rev12:14, but the noise of DC makes one doubt. Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand.

Msg #1944 Die Once or Die Twice, Choose Wisely

In our Bible the word “dispensation” and the word “stewardship” come from the same root word and are thus very closely related. It is just like our longsuffering LORD God to give mankind seven distinct dispensations which consume seven thousand years of the earth's existence. Each dispensation ends in man's failure to be a good steward; our present one, wherein it has never been easier for man to be redeemed, and actually and literally be the temple of God, tasting the kingdom of God, ends as it was in the days of Noe with the question “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).

We cannot now speak particularly about all the operations of the upcoming dispensation, the last in the series of seven, the Millennial Kingdom, but its ending is Bible certain. In it the curse is lifted, the Christ is present (and ruling the world from the throne of David in the holy city of Zion), and Satan, the opposer of God, is bound in a bottomless pit (Rev 20). The end of that thousand years concludes with three short verses in Revelation 20 and that chapter concludes with a “Great White Throne,” the second resurrection (that is the resurrection of the dead, that is the resurrection of all those who did not attain eternal life), and the horrid eternal destiny that is called “the second death.” It behooves us all to be very familiar with Revelation 20. If you're saved it will make you a better soul-winner; if you are lost it will give you a sobering look into eternity. It has been succinctly said, “ If you are born once you will die twice; if you are born twice you will die only once.” You must be born-again!

Msg #1945 Leaving Your First Love

How does one go about leaving their first love? Christ said that Ephesus, “hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” (Rev 2:3-4) Getting distracted by other things is a major player in wandering away from one's first love. When I find myself drawn away, even with a godly to-do list, I like to check four things. To love the Word that was made flesh, I need to delight in the law of the LORD, and meditate therein day and night (Psalm 1, Joshua 1:8). “If ye love me, keep my commandments.... If a man love me, he will keep my words” (Joh 14:15, 23). Today, how much did I love his word? “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them” (Ps 119:165).

The Apostle John's first epistle puts great emphasis on loving brethren, “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. … He that loveth not his brother abideth in death … He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, ... Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God” (1John3:23,14,2:10,4:7). My closeness to Christ is measured by my love of brethren,... and my love for Christ's church. The late Evangelist Harold Boyd often said, “If you didn't get enough salvation to get you into church, you probably didn't get enough to get you into heaven.” Love Christ, love what he loves. Fourth, how is my giving. “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving” (Evang Boyd).

Msg #1946 Amazing Praising

I preach a message that has been a great blessing to me, “It is Amazing What Praising Will Do!” God says that mankind is without excuse because when they “knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful.” Those are the first two steps away from God and I have been careful to glorify him with thanksgiving ever since I learned all six declining steps of Romans 1:21-23. Psalm 113 says, “Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.”... 150:6 “Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.” Psalm 103 instructs us to, “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name, ... and forget not all his benefits.” Praise him, bless him and include thanksgiving, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.... Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, ... abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Phil 4:6, Col 2:7).

Praising, blessing, and thanksgiving to God change brain chemistry and can cure several mental “diseases” in humans. Counseling treatments for depression, grief, anxiety, discouragement, discord, heart-ache, stress, even pain and addictions, will include consideration of outside and inside stimulus to the brain. The very thoughts that you run through your mind will generate enzymes, hormones and chemicals in response to your thinking. God says we need to renew our mind because out of our heart flow the issues of life. Wow, does the Bible address each of these physical issues of brain chemistry for our life? Yes it does. Pay attention when he says, “In everything give thanks.” Count your blessings name them one by one. Happy Thanksgiving.

Msg #1947 Thanks for Waiting

People are not typically thankful when they wait for an hour in a doctor's waiting room but a Christian's best conforming is done in “God's Waiting Room.” Dr. Guy Goodell's book by that title uses Lamentations 3:22-26 to portray the thankful believer in a waiting room flooded with mercies (plural), compassion, faithfulness, hope, anticipation, meditation, quiet listening, seeking, and quiet waiting. “The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD” (vr.25-26). Psalm 37 gives five rules for God's waiting room: 1) No fretting, 2) Trust God (Patience is trusting God's timing), 3) Delight thyself, 4) Commit and stay committed, and 5) Rest while you wait, but don't sit on your hands.

A fresh new look at Romans 8:26-29 shows the greater purpose of God's waiting room. Like the doctor's waiting room there are “infirmities” that land us there, but unlike it, the greatest healing and strengthening is done by the Holy Ghost in that waiting room (vr.26-27). In God's waiting room “all things work together for (our) good” (vr.28). As a young teen I often heard the sorely injured Mr. Sylvia trying to find that “good” through hospital nurses he witnessed to. Don't miss that God's waiting room is for our own good, and it brings to bear on our infirmities “all things” i.e. Bible readings, prayers made, preaching heard, relationships, persecutions, tribulations, flat tires, angry bosses, broken bones et.al. “all things!” We know so; God says so. God has unlimited access to “all things” so cooperate in the waiting room and “be conformed to the image of his Son” (vr.29). That's the goal, thanks for waiting, and in waiting rooms give thanks.

Msg #1948 Study First-Advent Scriptures

Prophetic insights to the two advents of the Christ are replete throughout Old Testament Scriptures. They are not clear until studied, because believing is seeing. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God” (2Tim2:15), is not an idle suggestion. The “seed” of woman in “it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” was clearly understood by Satan in the Garden. “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” traced “it” through Abraham the Father of Faith, and “I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him” passed the promise to Isaac and Rebekah. “Be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them” involved the whole nation of Israel in bringing this “seed of woman.” “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah” is subtle, but not an idle comment when it comes to “seed tracing.” After King David was told, “thy throne shall be established for ever” he penned in psalm that rulers would rise “against the LORD, and against his anointed (which being interpreted is Messiah-Hbrw and Christ-Greek),... Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.... Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” This Messiah, Only Begotten Son of God, King of kings, would be called “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace,” but would first cry “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?... “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” We now know “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.” Celebrate his first-advent, be a student of the scriptures. (Gen3:15,12:3,17:19, 24:60,49:10, 2Sam7:16,Psalm2:2,6,7, Isa9:6,Ps22:1, Isa50:6,53:5)

Msg #1949 Shepherds as Heralds

It is no coincidence that God sent angels to notify mere shepherds about his Only Begotten Son, wrapped in swaddling clothes. He could have sent them to the High-Priest of the Hebrews, the only religion holding his Word and the Truth. He could have sent them to the religious Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes or Lawyers who made themselves spokesmen for his Truth. He did not. Sheep and shepherds hold a high regard in the God's economy. He was sending the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the World (John 1:29,36,Rev 5:12), and that Lamb would be the Good, Great, and Chief Shepherd (John 10:11,Psalm22, Heb13:20,Psalm23, 1Pet5:4,Pslam24). Shepherds, herdsmen, keepers of sheep who led sheep into “pasture” came to be called “pastors” and in God's economy every Christian needs a good pastor. God said to Israel, “Let the LORD... set a man over the congregation,... that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd” (Num27:16-17). There are far to many sheep without a good shepherd over them today. Shepherds of Luke 2 were keeping watch over their flock by night (as is done in the spring lambing season) when they said, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.” They had time, curiosity, and initiative to investigate Godly things, and they were “networked-in” to became effective heralds of Christ's arrival. Your pastor needs those same qualities, and more. Ezekiel 34:2-6 gives seven things expected of good pastors starting with, “should not the shepherds feed the flocks?” Sheep with a good pastor are well fed, fear no evil, are not dismayed, and can say “I shall not want.” Pray for your pastor and/or get yourself under a good pastor.

Msg #1950 House of Bread, Ashes to Fruitfulness

A tiny town five miles south of Jerusalem peeks interest this time of the year. It came to be called Bethlehem-Euphratah after Rachel, Jacob's favored wife, died there in childbirth. Bethlehem in the Hebrew tongue means “house of bread” while Euphratah means both “ash-heap” and “place of fruitfulness.” Dying Rachel called her son Benoni (son of my sorrow), but Jacob changed his name to Benjamin (son of the right hand). Four-hundred years later, in sorrow, Naomi brought her daughter-in-law Ruth, the Moabite, to Bethlehem-Euphratah, but Boaz, her kinsman redeemer, turned her sorrow into fruitfulness (Ruth 1-4). Three-hundred years after that Saul stepped across Rachel's sepulchre on his way to the throne, but it took David, the shepherd boy born there, to secure the eternal title, King of Israel. From ashes to fruitfulness was God's theme for the little town of Bethlehem. And who could forget the three mighty men who defied a garrison of Philistines to bring David a drink of cold water from the well of Bethlehem. In the house-of-bread the Bread of Life was born; near the well of cool water living water was wrapped in burial cloth and laid in a manger bed. “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.... And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)” (Micah 5:2, Luke 2:4). And so it was that Jesus was born in Bethlehem-Euphratah, the Christ child, a man of sorrows, would bring us fruitfulness. Merry Christmas.

Msg #1951 Wise Men Know Scripture

A common Christmas fallacy is in thinking the wise men came to worship the newborn king of the Jews simply because they saw his star in the east. Wise men are wiser than that, and know things about the promised Messiah because God reveals himself in written words, infallible, inerrant, inspired, and preserved to every generation, written words; Praise the Lord! They were Bible wise men for two reasons, they feared the LORD God (Prov 1:7), and they studied and rightly divided the word of truth (2Tim2:15,3:16-17). Would that every Christian were so wise. These men had the Scriptures that Daniel had in the seventy year Babylonian captivity. Daniel knew from David's second psalm, already copied over and over for four-hundred years, that Messiah would be the only begotten Son of God; he told King Neb, who saw the fourth man in the fire. (Modernist ecumenical translators suppose he could not have known, and consequently miss-translate Daniel 3:25!) In Daniel's day the books of the Holy Bible were being collected and accurately copied as the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Nevi'im), and the Writings (Kethuvim). He had the book written by Micah, in fact he was only missing the eight post-exile books. There is every reason to believe that Hebrew copies of the thirty-one other books were left in the hands of “wise men” of the Medio-Persian Empire. Wise men, then, would have expected Messiah's arrival 483 years after Xerxes' decree to rebuild Jerusalem (Dan 9:25). The star they saw was only a confirmation for them to go and worship the Messiah. Ecumenical scholars suppose this is a man-made, man-collected, man-preserved book. It says otherwise repeatedly. Who are you going to believe? Indeed, John 3:16-18 begs the same question. An out-loud and personal response is required in Romans 10:9-10. Merry Christmas.

Msg #1952 America's Religiosity and Abandonment

The story of Jonah is written with such fine grain that things are often overlooked. The phrase “The word of the LORD came unto” is found over a hundred times in the Bible. Is that an audible voice, intuition, dream, vision or is it written down? Yes! A quick search of the phrase comes up with all of the above, but for the two times it is found for Jonah, the message was clear enough. The words, “...unto Jonah the son of Amittai” are striking because he knows my name, first, last, and middle! Ezra writing Chronicles seemed infatuated with names, but God breathed on that ready scribe and gave him those thousand names to write. Our solar system is a spec in God's created universe, our planet a spec in that, and our soul a spec there, but he knows your name. “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it;...”, Nineveh, capital city of Assyria, already had a background. Noah's son Ham bear a son Cush (Hbrw-black) and Cush begat Himrod (Hbrw-rebellion & valiant) and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel (Hbrw-confusion), and out of that land went forth Asshur (Assyria, Hbrw-a step) and builded Nineveh (Gen 10). Thus while Babylon symbolizes Gentile national confusion, Nineveh symbolizes Gentile national religiosity. In Jonah Nineveh finds Godly repentance and salvation, in Nahum, a hundred-and-fifty years hence, Nineveh has, “Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery;... and I will cast abominable filth upon thee and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing stock” (Nahum 3:1,6). A great people, who once held the truth in righteousness, and in time turn from truth, will find themselves in such a straight. God has blessed America, and look at her now.

Personal Testimony of Pastor Edward Rice. I was saved in 1960 at the age of eight. My father and mother were saved and founding members of Fellowship Baptist Church in Gang Mills New York. In 1958 my dad, Levi O. Rice, an agnostic, was invited by Cecil Palm to be a founding member of that church; both of my parents were born-again-saved two weeks later. My mother, Doris was converted form Roman Catholicism, and became a Christian. She stopped her Roman penance and practiced Bible repentance, stopped praying to Mary and called upon the Lord Jesus Christ to save her. She was thus converted from Roman Catholicism to the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone needs converted from something. Mom and Dad were now born again, and two years later I was saved in revival services with Evangelist Dale and Opel Linbaugh. Opel cut the flannel graph burden of sin off little Christian's back in her Pilgrim's Progress presentation, and I was born-again-saved before it hit the basement floor. In 1995 I retired from the USAF as a systems engineer and became an ordained Baptist Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 18:3).

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A Systematic Theology for the 21st Century - Prolegomena – Bibliology By Dr. Edward Rice 554 pages in paperback: $13.25 There is no Baptist Systematic Theology work in print today, i.e. there is no Systematic Theology work that has the inerrant, infallible, verbally inspired word of God as its sole authority. There ought to be. There is a cause. Baptists, by definition, have the inerrant, infallible, inspired Holy Bible as their sole authority for all faith and practice. They should have a systematic theology book that does as well. This is it's first book containing Volume 1 and 2. All 12 Volumes available free via theology or in print via Lulu >

God's Glory, God's Handiwork, and God's Word - The Genesis Account Paperback: $9.00 Prints in 3-5 business days God's inerrant, infallible, verbally inspired word clearly depicts his six-day creation account, his hundred and fifty day world flood account. A believer's faith in that declaration need not be a blind faith. True science, exploring and using Albert Einstein's theories of relativity, can embed these truths into a believers defense of his faith, and put the atheistic evolutionist to shame. This dissertation explores black-holes, algebra's multidimensions, relativity, and the glacier that formed the NYS Finger Lakes, to assemble some tools which ratify God's exacting account of his creation of the universe and flooding of our planet.

The Non-Christian Religions 83 pages in paperback: $9.70 Non-Christian religions are 'cunningly devised fables' and many of them are not even that cunning. They have their roots in a knowledge of the truth which was taken from Noah's kin after the world flood. Man then scattered across our globe after the tower of Babel recorded in Genesis 11. They took with them certain grains of truth. Starting with a premise that the Bible is true and not man-made makes the study of these false religions insightful and intriguing. This is an introductory coverage of Indian Hinduism and its 3 reformations, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism; then Oriental Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism; Zoroastrianism, non-Biblicl Judaism, and finally Islam. All that a Christian needs to know about each of these false religions is presented herein in digest form. A compassionate and eyeopening digest.

Reformed Theology's Reformations Are Not Producing a Biblical Systematic Theology 164 pages in Hardcover: $24.05 Reformed Augustinian Theology is, as its name so aptly captures, a reformation of bad Augustinian Theology that previously framed up the belief system of Roman Catholic Theology. The reformers began the reformation of the Roman Catholic theology and reformations have progressed until a common question is asked “Exactly what is reformed theology?” This work will analyze rate of change for reformation theology.... Is it now circling towards the epicenter of truth, or does it continue in the venue of its mother Church spiraling ever further from the truth? This effort focus and clarifies the position and course of Reformed Augustinian Theology with a clarity never before addressed. More >

Seven Volumes of Penny Pulpit Essays 453 pages in paperback: $19.68 (epub $5) This collection of messages was preached over seven years, in two volumes 2005-12 and 2013-19. They contain the wisdom of God in 364+ essays over multiple topics. Pastor Rice is a USAF retired systems engineer turned Baptist Preacher who brings a fresh practical and Biblical look at what the Bible says. Weekly messages preached at Good Samaritan Baptist Church are condensed into devotional essays and sent out as weekly Penny Pulpit Columns for local publications. This is an excellent resource for Baptist Pastors and Missionaries. Online at http://www.gsbaptistchurch.com/ppulpit/biblesays7vol.pdf

Journaling a Preacher's Pilgrimage to Israel 76 pages in Paperback: $25.50 (B&W $12.40) Travel to Israel for 10 days through this detailed journal of a Baptist Pastor's once in a lifetime educational tour. If you have never visited Israel, do not miss this opportunity to journal through these 10 days. If you plan on visiting Israel, do not go without first taking this 10 day journaling experience. Pastor Ed Rice is a retired USAF Systems Engineer surrendered to be a Baptist Preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His staunch belief in the preserved accuracy of the inspired Scriptures and his rich background in the history of Bible believing Baptists makes his insights throughout this 10 day tour of Israel pointed and Biblical

The 357 Magnum Errors of Modernist's Critical Texts 141 pages in paperback: $10.66 Now you can see for yourself what the ecumenical modernists have done to the Words of God. In their Greek then modernist English they twisted 357 verses so perversely that 16 were completely eliminated from their bibles. This book illustrates the 357 Scriptures as they were in the original Greek and English, and as they now appear in modernist versions, making it a valuable reference for any Bible student. The words torn out or added to the Nestle Aland Greek text are amply highlighted so knowledge of Greek is not necessary to see the havoc that they purposefully wrought by following the Westcott and Hort text and its Alexandrian texts devised and copied by the apostate, neo-Platonist, gnostic Origen Admantius (185-254 AD). Including a chapter showing Nestle Aland's twisted use of their textual criticism apparatus to eliminate 16 and completely 'gut' 4 verses out of the Holy Bible. Every Christian should be familiar with with what they have done to the Holy Bible and every Pastor must be.

The Biblical Doctrine of Election and Predestination 141 pages in paperback: $18.95 The Author is a USAF retired systems engineer turned Baptist Preacher who brings a fresh Biblical look at our systematic theology. His Master of Science degree in Engineering enlivens an analytical view of the doctrine of election and predestination. You will be amazed at how much Christian doctrine departs from the Bible and leans on Augustinian Theology and Calvin's Reformed Theology. We need to get back to sound Bible teachings with this doctrine. This treatise will move one in that direction. More >

Job Revisited - The Saviour Sources and Sorrow 42 pages in paperback: $6.00 (Epub $1.99) I set out to write this paper because there were three things I have often seen overlooked in commentary on Job: the Saviour, the Sources and the Sorrow. These have been highlighted in this writing. As I assembled the paper, and researched peoples thoughts on Job I was struck by how little people explore the wonder of God's Word. I trust that the expanded introduction will help the honest Bible student to more fully explore the wonder of this epic Hebrew poem

What the Bible Says, Penny Pulpit Essays of 2005-19 ea 54 pages in paperback: under $10.00ea What the Bible Says in 52 Penny Pulpit Essays by a Rural Pastor with a Royal Message. Pastor Rice is a USAF retired systems engineer turned Baptist Preacher who brings a fresh practical and Biblical look at what the Bible says. Various topics arranged as they were preached throughout the calendar year.

Dealing With Our Moods And Depressions Biblically Paperback: $10.78 A Constructive Work Book. A Biblical Perspective on Depression and Manic Depression (called Bi-Polar Disorder) Dealing with Life, and Dealing with Others Biblically. More >

Letters to Kassandra Paperback: $8.99 Dear Kassandra, I suppose that all my training and experience as a youth pastor and my education as an engineer and preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not of much value if I cannot.communicate the facts of life to my 14 year old grand daughter.... I want to present some facts of life to my teenage granddaughters, Love Grandpa.

Biblical Stewardship and Child Rearing Paperback: $10.66 A parent is given only a short time to raise a child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, this book will help.

Dealing With Our Addictions, A Constructive Workbook Paperback: $10.66 A Biblical Perspective on Victory over Addiction to Drugs, Smoking, Alcohol, Liquor, Pornography, or Gambling. ... I have an addiction. Bible centered counsel on dealing with addictions following... More >

None Dare Call It Wolf 44 pages in paperback: $8.85 A Baptist Preacher captures and raises a malamute pup which teaches some things about the social behavior of wolves, social behavior of dogs and even social behaviors of people. Dogs need to be dominated by their master and people need to be dominated by their Lord. A short story that can bring some joy. More >

1On January 15, 2019, the New York State Senate voted 42-19 to pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) (Bill S.1047-Hoylman/A.747-Gottfried), also known as the Bathroom Bill. On the same day, the New York State Assembly passed the Bathroom Bill by a vote of 105 to 43. ... Jan 26, 2019 - Calling it an "emotional day," Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed bills that provide protections to transgender New Yorkers and bans the use of conversion therapy on children. Feb 25, 2019 - The GENDA law also bans gay conversion therapy, and makes offenses eligible for a hate crime.