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A Plano megachurch minister was taken into custody Thursday after authorities say he drove to Bryan, Texas, to have sex with a person he thought to be a 13-year-old. Joe Barron, a minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church, is accused of online solicitation of a minor.

All, Mission To The World, the PCA's international ministry, has issued an appeal for funds to aid in the relief of Myanmar cyclone victims. I know that most of us have heard stories about countries and large relief agencies having their hands tied, but God will provide a way for His church to break through manmade barriers. _________________________________________________________________ Horrifying and harrowing stories are emerging in the aftermath of the catastrophic tropical cyclone that devastated much of already poverty-striken Myanmar. Reuters News is reporting as many as one million people left homeless. No one really knows how high the death toll...

Preaching: Preach to Make Them Sweat Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" --Acts 2:37 I preach to my congregation week after week. And I pray that I may be able to preach with such convicting power that my people will sweat! I do not want them to leave my services feeling good. The last thing I want to do is to give them some kind of religious tranquilizer--and let them go to hell in their relaxation. The Christian...

Day By Day By Grace Bob Hoekstra May 16 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Approach to Ministry We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 2 Corinthians 4:2 God has made us His servants under the new covenant of grace. "God…made us…ministers of the new covenant" (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). Those who desire to serve the Lord by grace have a very distinctive approach to ministry. "We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking...

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - May 16 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." - 1 Timothy 6:17 Our Lord Jesus is ever giving, and does not for a solitary instant withdraw his hand. As long as there is a vessel of grace not yet full to the brim, the oil shall not be stayed. He is a sun ever-shining; he is manna always falling round the camp; he is a rock in the desert, ever sending out streams of life from his smitten side; the rain of his grace is always dropping; the river of...

After modeling a seeker-sensitive approach to church growth for three decades, Willow Creek Community Church now plans to gear its weekend services toward mature believers seeking to grow in their faith. cut Since 1975, Willow Creek has avoided conventional church approaches, using its Sunday services to reach the unchurched through polished music, multimedia, and sermons referencing popular culture and other familiar themes. cut .....surveyed congregants at Willow Creek and six other churches, suggested that evangelistic impact was greater from those who self-reported as "close to Christ" or "Christ-centered" than from new church attendees. In addition, a quarter of the "close...

Motorcyclists in town for the Harley-Davidson spring bike rally are being pinched at the pump like all drivers. The economy is down, gas costs are up and the bike rallies are traditionally the start of the tourist season, when prices at hotels begin to rise. An organized campaign One group has specific goals this week - to save as many bikers' souls as possible. And the Baptist missionaries are playing to people's pocketbooks to do it. At the Citgo gas station on U.S. 17 Business South and Farrow Parkway, bikers can get $10 worth of gas, a "Biker Bible" and...

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)—Prayer is news at this year’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis. A chaplains’ luncheon and a Missional Network discussion also may yield a few lines of ink. This year’s prayer emphasis at the Southern Baptist Convention has been boosted by the efforts of Indianapolis-area pastors who have caught a vision of what can happen when people spend more time praying. At last year’s meeting of the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana, a first-of-its-kind prayer room featured videos, maps and other visual aids along with Bible verses, specific requests and journals to facilitate prayer. The room was...

Evangelical Writers Challenged to Avoid Alienating the Unchurched Evangelical writers nearly always alienate non-evangelicals in their works, noted long-time Christian writer and editor Tim McLaughlin. Fri, May. 09, 2008 Posted: 12:04:29 PM EST PORTLAND, Ore. – “I have a bone to pick with you,” a Christian writer told a group of fellow evangelical writers Thursday. Evangelical writers nearly always alienate non-evangelicals in their works, noted long-time Christian writer and editor Tim McLaughlin. While most writers write to impact non-believers, as well as believers, the phrases they use and how they ignore some faith passages are real obstacles to reaching the...

Preaching: The Authority of God ...I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, "Thus says the Lord God." As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse--for they are a rebellious house--yet they will know that a prophet has been among them. -Ezekiel 2:4-5 I don't want to be unkind, but I am sure there ought to be a lot more authority in the pulpit than there is now. A preacher should reign from his pulpit as a king from his throne. He should not reign by law nor by regulations and not by board...

Day By Day By Grace Bob Hoekstra May 15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Ministry of Mercy and Grace Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. 2 Corinthians 4:1 In addition to heavenly liberty, God desires to mark our lives with other spiritual characteristics. One of these is the godly encouragement that comes from living and serving under a ministry of mercy and grace. The service we now render to the Lord is based upon mercy: "since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy." We deserved condemnation by God and separation from...

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - May 15 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "All that believe are justified." - Acts 13:39 The believer in Christ receives a present justification. Faith does not produce this fruit by-and-by, but now. So far as justification is the result of faith, it is given to the soul in the moment when it closes with Christ, and accepts him as its all in all. Are they who stand before the throne of God justified now?-so are we, as truly and as clearly justified as they who walk in white and sing melodious praises to celestial harps. The thief...

Some prominent Christian leaders said this week that they will not sign the “An Evangelical Manifesto,� listing reasons such as vague wording and theological differences. The manifesto’s definition of evangelical itself was among the top concerns for some leaders who refused to sign the document. The document’s description for evangelicals is “Christians who define themselves, their faith, and their lives according to the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth.� Several evangelical leaders said that while the definition is true, it is too broad and therefore not a good definition to distinguish who evangelicals are. “Those are wonderful words filled with...

The smell won't be incense Sunday, but burnt rubber. Leave that coat and tie in the closet. Grab your Dale Jr. T-shirt, and practice your "whoooeeeee!" NASCAR is coming to church. First Baptist Church in Rock Hill, most of the time a traditional Southern Baptist flock, will try something Sunday so outlandish, so unorthodox and cool, that it just might work: NASCAR All-Star Sunday. If you are one of the "unchurched" or "dechurched" who might have fallen off the church wagon somewhere in life's Turn 4 so many years ago, this is your kind of worship. In the foyer, next...

Preaching: A Voice Instead of An Echo But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." --Acts 4:19-20 To escape the snare of artificiality it is necessary that a man enjoy a satisfying personal experience with God. He must be totally committed to Christ and deeply anointed with the Holy Spirit. Further, he must be delivered from the fear of man. The focus of his attention must be...

Day By Day By Grace Bob Hoekstra May 14 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once More on Bondage versus Liberty Abraham had two sons…which…are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage…and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children — but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all…. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke...

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - May 14 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "Joint heirs with Christ." - Romans 8:17 The boundless realms of his Father's universe are Christ's by prescriptive right. As "heir of all things," he is the sole proprietor of the vast creation of God, and he has admitted us to claim the whole as ours, by virtue of that deed of joint-heir-ship which the Lord hath ratified with his chosen people. The golden streets of paradise, the pearly gates, the river of life, the transcendent bliss, and the unutterable glory, are, by our blessed Lord, made over to us...

CHAPTER XV Century One The Primitive Churches We now make the bold, yet almost universally admitted assertion, that the primitive churches were in every distinguishing characteristic Baptist churches. We affirm that at the time of the departure of the great Tertullian, their Baptistic features were as yet uneffaced; and that, though lost in the development of the Man of Sin, they have preserved those lineaments intact in the churches to this day. Where shall we seek the proof of this? Whom shall we introduce as witnesses? Shall we let Baptists speak? Will their testimony be received? No; with all their...

It has been a busy week for candidates announcing to run for Southern Baptist Convention president. We have three new candidates, but I know little about them except for what the linked articles tell us. If anyone knows more about these three your comments would be welcome. Johnny Hunt to be SBC president nominee Avery Willis to be SBC president nominee Les Puryear to be SBC president nominee

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, groups that consider themselves Christians but are labeled by many as cults, differ vastly from the born-again population when it comes to core Christian doctrines, according to a new survey released Monday. The only belief that Witnesses share in the same degree with born-again Christians is that their religious faith is very important in their life, reported The Barna Group. Nine out of 10 people from both groups held this view. But beyond this commonality, the two groups parted ways and differed on all the other criteria for being born-again. Only seven percent of Jehovah’s Witnesses...

Weak preaching and cultural adaptability are just two of many reasons Southern Baptists give to explain the decline of membership and baptisms. "[T]he shallow state of preaching has exacerbated the lethargy of the church and left the lost with no real Word from God," said Paige Patterson, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, in a column in Baptist Press. "The pastor ought to be the major source of theological understanding and the most able teacher of the Bible,� he added. "Anemic pulpits create anemic churches and denominations." Since the release last month of the latest data...

Pastor John Hagee sent a letter today [Copy Here] to Catholic League president Bill Donohue that effectively ends the dispute the two men have had. Donohue comments as follows: “After weeks of meeting with various Catholic leaders, and accessing scholarly literature on Catholic-Jewish relations, Pastor John Hagee has demonstrated an improved understanding of the Catholic Church and its history. In his letter to me, Hagee says, ‘I want to express my deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful.’ He specifically cites his emphasis of ‘the darkest chapters in the history of Catholic and Protestant relations with the...

Preaching: Prophet, Not Orator And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, "You are My people." --Isaiah 51:16 The Christian minister, as someone has pointed out, is a descendant not of the Greek orator but of the Hebrew prophet. The differences between the orator and the prophet are many and radical, the chief being that the orator speaks for himself while the prophet speaks for God. The orator originates his message and is...

Day By Day By Grace Bob Hoekstra May 13 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Liberty to Be Transformed But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18 Living day by day under the new covenant of grace allows the Holy Spirit to liberate us spiritually. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17). Where the Holy Spirit is allowed to work, there is liberty to be transformed. This transformation process...

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - May 13 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." - Psalm 30:5 Christian! If thou art in a night of trial, think of the morrow; cheer up thy heart with the thought of the coming of thy Lord. Be patient, for "Lo! He comes with clouds descending." Be patient! The Husbandman waits until he reaps his harvest. Be patient; for you know who has said, "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be." If...

Preaching: Eloquence And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. --1 Corinthians 2:1-2 There are few things in religious circles held in greater esteem than eloquence. Yet there are few things of less actual value or that bring with them greater temptation or more harm. One qualification everyone expects a preacher to have is the ability to discourse fluently on almost any religious or moral subject. Yet such...

Day By Day By Grace Bob Hoekstra May 12 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Liberty by the Holy Spirit Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 Corinthians 3:17 As we have seen, the old covenant of law produces spiritual bondage in those who attempt to live under it. The great heavenly remedy for that bondage is the new covenant of grace, because it produces spiritual liberty. This liberty is a work of the Holy Spirit. "Now the Lord is the Spirit." The life-giving Lord of grace is the Spirit of God: "the new...

A Roman Catholic Dogma Originating with Heretics and Condemned as Heretical by 2 Popes in the 5th and 6th Centuries. By William Webster The Roman Catholic doctrine of the assumption of Mary teaches that she was assumed body and soul into heaven either without dying or shortly after death. This extraordinary claim was only officially declared to be a dogma of Roman Catholic faith in 1950, though it had been believed by many for hundreds of years. To dispute this doctrine, according to Rome’s teaching, would result in the loss of salvation. The official teaching of the Assumption comes from...

Day By Day By Grace Bob Hoekstra May 10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bondage versus Liberty Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech—unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 2 Corinthians 3:12-13 Living by the old covenant of law requires a "performance based life," which depends upon man's sufficiency. This produces spiritual bondage. Living by the new covenant of grace provides a "relationship based life," which depends upon God's sufficiency. This results in spiritual liberty. Moses was a...

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - May 10 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "But now is Christ risen from the dead." - 1 Corinthians 15:20 The whole system of Christianity rests upon the fact that "Christ is risen from the dead;" for, "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain: ye are yet in your sins." The divinity of Christ finds its surest proof in his resurrection, since he was "Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." It would not be...

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth....And God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light. – Genesis 1:1,3 When Jesus offered up for all believers his high-priestly prayer in their behalf, he summed up the essence of his request thus: “Father, I desire that those whom you have given me might be with me, where I am, in order that they might behold my glory, which you gave me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). From which circumstance we may learn that the very essence of what Jesus died...

'Might our religion be killing us?' That's what a Baptist minister was asking recently in an editorial in USA Today. Rev. Oliver "Buzz" Thomas writes: Be fruitful and multiply," says the book of Genesis, and Lord knows we have. To the tune of more than 300 million at home and more than 6 billion abroad. But as we go about the heavenly task of multiplying, a poignant question arises: Might our religion be killing us? Insert the deep dark foreboding music. We all remember the Aztecs. Some say their religion, with its penchant for violence and human sacrifice, played a...

Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews, Delivered at the Tabernacle, N. Y., Oct. 28, and Dec. 2, ­1844, by M. M. Noah. New York, 1845, 8vo. pp. 55. The address of Judge Noah on the Restoration of the Jews, has excited a good deal of attention among our Christian fellow­citizens, more so at least than among ourselves; and the subject has also been noticed by the conversion paper in England, as well as the Voice of Jacob. We are not aware as yet whether other European papers have spoken of it, which however, is, likely enough, as Judge Noah...

Preaching: A Shell Here and a Shell There And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. --John 1:14 None of us can approach a serious study and consideration of the eternal nature and person of Jesus Christ without sensing and confessing our complete inadequacy in the face of the divine revelation.... What should we do, then? All we can hope to do is to toddle along on our short legs and gaze heaven-ward, like a goose whose wings have...

Day By Day By Grace Bob Hoekstra May 9 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Substantial Glory versus Excelling Glory But if the ministry of death…was glorious…how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. 2 Corinthians 3:7-11 These verses proclaim another significant difference between the glory of the old covenant of law and...

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - May 9 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings." - Ephesians 1:3 All the goodness of the past, the present, and the future, Christ bestows upon his people. In the mysterious ages of the past the Lord Jesus was his Father's first elect, and in his election he gave us an interest, for we were chosen in him from before the foundation of the world. He had from all eternity the prerogatives of Sonship, as his Father's only-begotten and well-beloved Son, and he has, in the riches of his grace, by...

Preaching: John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. --John 3:16 I have heard that John 3:16 is a favorite preaching text for young preachers, but I confess that as far as I can recall, I have never had the courage to prepare and preach a sermon with John 3:16 as my text. I suppose I have quoted it as many as 15,000 or 20,000 times in prayer and in testimony, in writing and in preaching, but never as a sermon...

An Apostolic Pentecostal is a person that believes in speaking in tongues - glossolalia - as proof that a person has received the Holy Ghost. Pentecostals are people who believe in dramatic demonstrations of the Gifts of the Spirit, such as prophecy or the interpretation of tongues. Pentecostal Oneness believers reject the concept of the Trinity and are convinced salvation relies upon the literal form of baptism; dunking rather than sprinkling and repentance of one's sins. People who are not familiar with Pentecostalism may think that the following descriptions are exaggerated and shocking, however the things depicted in this article...

Day By Day By Grace Bob Hoekstra May 8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fading Glory versus Remaining Glory For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. 2 Corinthians 3:11 The old covenant of law and the new covenant of grace both have a glory about them. However, the glory of one (the old covenant) is a fading glory, whereas, the other (the new covenant) has a remaining glory. One is related to man's sufficiency. The other is related to God's sufficiency. The fading aspect of old covenant glory can be seen in Moses's experience: "But if the...

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - May 8 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "He that was healed wist not who it was." - John 5:13 Years are short to the happy and healthy; but thirty-eight years of disease must have dragged a very weary length along the life of the poor impotent man. When Jesus, therefore, healed him by a word, while he lay at the pool of Bethesda, he was delightfully sensible of a change. Even so the sinner who has for weeks and months been paralysed with despair, and has wearily sighed for salvation, is very conscious of the change when...

Within the unimaginable depths of the universe there is a small family of worlds circling about a star we call the Sun; it is just a single star among the billions upon billions which are shining in the cosmos. Against the awesome backdrop of the infinite blackness of space, our world is just another planet; nothing more than an insignificant speck on the cosmological scale of things, but it is our home, and as of yet we have found no other planets which are remotely like Earth. The history of our world is a story which is still largely incomplete....

Machen (1881-1937) was Professor of New Testament, first at Princeton Theological Seminary, and afterwards at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. Published in God Transcendent (1949). ________________________________________________________ "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him, which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). These words were not spoken by Jonathan Edwards. They were not spoken by Cotton Mather. They were not spoken by Calvin, or Augustine, or by Paul. But these words were spoken by Jesus. And when put together with the many other words...

Preaching: A Sense of Inadequacy Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.... --2 Corinthians 3:5 I believe I had anticipated that it was going to be a pleasure to expound this beautiful and high soaring Gospel of John. However, I must confess that in my preparation and study a sense of inadequacy has come over me--a feeling of inadequacy so stunning, so almost paralyzing that I am not at this juncture able to call it a pleasure to preach. Perhaps this will be God's way of...

Day By Day By Grace Bob Hoekstra May 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ministry of Condemnation versus Ministry of Righteousness For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 2 Corinthians 3:6-8 Here is another vivid contrast between living by the old covenant of law versus living by the new covenant of grace. God's perfect law is a "ministry of condemnation," which compels people to draw upon man's sufficiency. God's glorious grace is a "ministry of righteousness," which allows people to draw upon God's sufficiency. When we try to live by the law, we walk...

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - May 7 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all." - Matthew 12:15 What a mass of hideous sickness must have thrust itself under the eye of Jesus! Yet we read not that he was disgusted, but patiently waited on every case. What a singular variety of evils must have met at his feet! What sickening ulcers and putrefying sores! Yet he was ready for every new shape of the monster evil, and was victor over it in every form. Let the arrow fly from what quarter it might, he quenched...

In more sophisticated language, The New York Times columnist Frank Rich also sought to dismiss the general outrage at Wright's racist and anti-American diatribes. In Rich's view, American society's outrage at Wright is but one more example of American racism. His proof? America is not as angry at a white pastor, the Rev. John Hagee, who has endorsed Sen. John McCain, as it is at Wright and his 20-year bond with Sen. Barack Obama. In Rich's words, "Mr. Hagee's videos have never had the same circulation on television as Mr. Wright's. A sonorous white preacher spouting venom just doesn't have...

Preaching: A Major Preaching Challenge Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. --1 Timothy 4:14-15 Many of us who preach the unsearchable riches of Christ are often pretty dull and hard to listen to. The freshest thought to visit the human mind should be the thought of God. The story of salvation should put a radiancy in the face and a vibrancy in the...

Ministry of Death versus Ministry of Life The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious…how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 2 Corinthians 3:6-8 These verses contain another contrasting choice that results in people either living by bankrupt human resources, or by bountiful heavenly ones. This contrast is "the ministry of death versus the ministry of life." These terms come from correlating four phrases: "the letter kills…the Spirit gives life…the ministry of death…the ministry of the Spirit." Of course, the old covenant of...

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - May 6 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "We dwell in him." - 1 John 4:13 Do you want a house for your soul? Do you ask, "What is the purchase?" It is something less than proud human nature will like to give. It is without money and without price. Ah! you would like to pay a respectable rent! You would love to do something to win Christ? Then you cannot have the house, for it is "without price." Will you take my Master's house on a lease for all eternity, with nothing to pay for it, nothing...

Pope Benedict XVI should be admired for his level of conviction but not for the particulars of his theological views, R. Albert Mohler Jr. wrote April 15 in an online dialogue about faith sponsored by The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine. Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is one of more than 60 panelists who post responses on the Internet to religious questions posed at least once a week. The forum, known as On Faith, is hosted by Newsweek managing editor Jon Meacham and Washington Post writer Sally Quinn. Pope Benedict recently visited the United States for...