Last night I experienced a first on social media. A person claiming to follow Jesus Christ questioned my salvation. This individual did not know me nor anything about my beliefs — other than the fact that I differed with him regarding a political issue. A third person who also commented on the Facebook thread said they left evangelical Christianity because …
The Apostle Paul’s admonition to the church members in Rome to “live at peace with everyone” is a message of truth we desperately need in our culture and as Great Commission Baptists. Too often on social media, in churches, and recently on committee Zoom meetings, we witness people in conflict speaking inciting words in an aggressive tone. Daily on Twitter, …
Do you speak words that build up or tear down? In his letter to the church in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul wrote: Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29) ESV Sadly, whether on social media, texts, phone calls, emails, or in personal conversations, too many of us speak words that tear down rather than build up. Our conversations are not salted with …
Repentance. It’s a word that is largely absent as I’ve listened to prospective church members share their testimonies with me over the last decade. They mention sin, separation from God, the atoning work of Christ and the subsequent forgiveness it brings, but largely leave repentance out of their stories regarding their “conversion” experience. I’ve even heard some church leaders speak …
The first time I heard Rev. Billy Graham preach the gospel I was fifteen years old. I went with my parents and members of our church to an arena in Washington, D.C. for one of his crusades. Although I did not surrender to the gospel that night, I heard the gospel in a way that I could clearly understand it. …
