“before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.”-Isaiah 7:12 The importance of this question is matched only by my inability to give it a satisfactory answer. At age seven, I would confidently say, “No.” At eight or nine, most young… Read More »
The Dyn-O-Mite Of The Gospel
The 1970’s is a very difficult era to explain for people who did not live during the time between the Beatles and Blondie. That brings us to Jimmie Walker. In 1974, he played a character named, “J.J.” on the television show Good Times. The sitcom was a spin-off from another show entitled Maude and was… Read More »
Suicide, Sin, Hell, and God’s Grace
[Editor’s Note: At no point am I saying it is acceptable or pleasing to God to commit suicide. Your family does not deserve to live in the aftermath of taking your life. Reach out, please.-JS] Matthew Bassford posted a thoughtful article on suicide to his Facebook page last week1. I expressed my thoughts on an… Read More »
Evangelism In The Morning; Doctrine At Night
This is the first Lord’s day of February. Welcome to a double-header of preaching series. For several years, I felt compelled, at the beginning of the year, to focus a lesson series on the specific needs of the body of Christ at North Second Street. Over the past two years our focus has been on… Read More »
Nets, Hooks, And Jesus
“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”-Matthew 4:19 The word of God has much to say about the humble profession of the fisherman. Our Lord’s first four apostles were harvesters of the sea. When Jesus called Andrew and Peter, he told them he would make them fishers of men. For the Jews… Read More »
Rightly Handling The Word Of Truth; Part V
My Boy Scout leader was a World War II veteran and two-time Purple Heart recipient named Billy Meharg. He would tell us a long story and then say, “I’ve said all that, to say this.” Allow me to borrow the idea. To get to today’s article, the groundwork of the Bible story had to be… Read More »
In Defense Of The Five Steps; Part II
In 1874, a preacher and medical doctor named T.W. Brents wrote a 500-page book entitled The Gospel Plan of Salvation. It would be difficult to overestimate its influence. It is an exhaustive and decisive rebuttal of Calvinism. It was not new doctrine, but it codified The Five Steps (hereafter TFS) as the best way to… Read More »
In Defense Of The Five Steps; Part I
One of my favorite sermons is entitled The Five Steps Is Not The Gospel. I am fond of it because I believe it is important to focus on God’s grace extended to me through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God. “The Five Steps” (hereafter TFS) are often referred to… Read More »
Do I Have To Be Baptized To Be Saved?
Well, of course! What would make you think otherwise? You might as well ask, “Do I have to go through a door to be inside the house?” You are either in or out. Baptism is the gateway ordained by God through which we have, “obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand,”-Romans… Read More »
The Word of God; Part VI
“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”-Luke 24:46-47 Jesus rose from the dead to give life to all those who trust and serve him (John… Read More »