Valparaiso Indiana (IN)

Baptist Temple Serving the Lord in the Alamance County Since 1975

Welcome to the Biblical Hebrew (Self-Taught) Study Group. For those who want to learn Biblical Hebrew for the sake of knowledge without college tuition. "Study to shew yourselves approved unto God...”

Independent Baptist Church in Rockford Illinois

Missionaries to the Czech Republic

What The Bible Says - Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

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What The Bible Says - Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

What The Bible Says - Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

What The Bible Says Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Emphasizing God's care for the unsaved individual, this message was preached on Sunday morning, Mar. 03, 2024, by Pastor ...

Watch our Live Stream Sundays starting at 9:45am, Sunday Evenings at 6pm and Wednesday Evenings at 7pm (CST) Take a ...

Watch our Live Stream Sundays starting at 9:45am, Sunday Evenings at 6pm and Wednesday Evenings at 7pm (CST) Take a ...

? Temple Baptist Church - 4-14-2024Psalm 119:113-120? Introduction:? A.? Psalm 119 – The Magnification of the Word of God.? 176 verses broken down into 22 stanzas with each stanza containing 8 verses.? Each stanza begins with one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet with each verse of the stanza in Hebrew beginning with the correlating letter.? An Acrostic. A masterpiece that only God the Word could have given to us.? B.? SAMECH – infinity or infinite – also used for support or ladder – The 15th? letter of the Hebrew alphabet – its numerical number is 60 which represents completeness.? It is one of the two closed letters with the other being found in MEM in its final form at the end of a word.? It is circular in form with no beginning or end and protects that which is within.? C.? We understand that we live in a sinful world and in sinful times.? ? 1.? In my lifetime, I have seen the world changing in so many ways as it downwardly spirals into utter depravity.? As God's children, we try to abstain from all appearance of evil while living in the midst of it.? 2.? More than ever before, we need to realize that God holds our lives in His hands.? We have a promise of perpetual protection as we walk with God within the Word of God.? ? 3.? We need to make sure that we remain within the “hedge” that God has placed around us.? Through willful sin and willful ignorance, we often remove ourselves to some degree out of the protection of our Lord.? D.? In Jewish tradition, SAMECH represents one's inner journey.? Verse 113 begins with the words “I hate vain thoughts.”? ? These words show the importance of maintaining the invisible man as well as the physical man.? Proverbs tells us “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)? E.? While we can only see the outside, God is a Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.? Who we are is what we are inwardly!? This 15th stanza shows the believer that there are Divine inner and outer protection available and this protection is found in God's Word.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? F.? God affords the believer “layers” of protection that will help to keep one's heart and mind (1) Stable and therefore (2) Stayed upon the Lord.? Then there is the outward layer of protection afforded the believer.? 1.? ? Verse 113.? Our Spirit.? The Word of God protects our thought life.? The godly man's hatred of vain thoughts.? Vain – to no avail or worthless.? The most dangerous battlefield known to man is the struggle of good and evil thoughts.? The greatest wars are waged in the mind of the believer.? Inherently, man has a God given understanding of both right and wrong.? I heard it said that man does not have a problem knowing right from wrong.? The struggle is choosing right over wrong.? Here, we once again find the love of God's Law as the deciding factor in our thought life.? ? 2 Corinthians 10:3-5? For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:? (4)? (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)? (5)? Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;? 2.? Verse 114.? Our Surety.? God protects our temporal life.? The child of God is hated by Satan, the world.? God is our infinite Refuge during the hard times of life, but it is through God's Word that we find our sanctity and peace.? When everything is going wrong in life, everything we need is in our hand tonight.? Protection from temporal calamities and persecutions.? God's Word is our chamber of retreat where we hide and find safety both physical and spiritual.? It is in the Word of God that we hide while taking the “shield of faith” in our hands.? The Word of God? supplies us grace, strength, light, life, and comfort here, and for glory hereafter.? Psalms 9:9? The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.? 3.? Verse 115.? Our Sanctification.? God protects our interaction with the world.? The world is a constant distraction of God's people and the ultimate state becomes defilement.? Our protection is through the Word of God.? We that are saved are not only separatist, we are separated from.? In this verse, we see the desire of the godly to distance himself from those who do evil.? This does not speak of staying away from every sinner for the Bible says that we would have to leave this world to do so.? It means to stay away from those who have a pattern of life that is wicked.? “Evildoers” is a persistent condition.? The Power of the wicked:? Psalms 37:35? I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.? 4.? Verse 116.? ? Our Stability.? God protects our feebleness in life.? The Word of God is the “Rock” upon which we stand.? Unmovable, unshakable, unerring, an anchor is an ever changing world.? Through the Bible, we can be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord according to 1 Corinthians 15:58.? Paul said, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”? Psalms 94:17-18? Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.? (18)? When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.? 5.? Verse 117.? Our Safety.? God protects us in the perils of life.? We live in perilous times.? In the news, all we hear is about the dangers of living in the greatest nation on earth.? Because sentence against evil works is not executed, people have no respect for law and order.? ? Ecclesiastes 8:11? Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.? Proverbs 21:31? The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.? 6.? Verse 118.? Our Sinfulness.? God protects us in our temptations in life.? One of Newton's Third Law of Motion states: “? For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”? Spiritually, though God is so often gracious to the sinner, with willful sin, for the most part it is followed by a willful judgment.? Their deceit is falsehood.? What they appear outward is not the reality of that which we see outwardly.? Hebrews 4:12? For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.? 7.? Verse 119.? Our Salvation.? God protects us from our enemies in life.? The Lord will take care of the wicked.? We just need to love and stay with the Word of God.? The wicked may seem to be on the winning side for a while but the justice of the Lord will be manifested.? Jeremiah 6:28-30? They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.? (29)? The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.? (30)? Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.? 8.? Verse 120.? Our Submission.? Our protection, “safety is of the Lord,” is perpetually in the hand of God.? Life is still hard at best, but remaining in the will of God through the Word of God affords the child of God a perpetual protection.? Proverbs 19:23? The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

On an island where Buddhist disaster relief is prominent, Christians work with churches to care for children and families.When a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit the east coast of Taiwan Wednesday morning, Carissa Wang, branding communication director of World Vision Taiwan, was on the Taipei subway on her way to work. She felt the carriage sway more than usual, and then it stopped at the next station as an announcement alerted passengers that service had ended due to an earthquake.Wang and her World Vision colleagues immediately began putting disaster relief protocols into action, assembling their emergency team and reaching out to local government officials to coordinate relief at evacuation centers. World Vision social workers also began to contact the 3,000 sponsored children and their families in the epicenter of Hualien to make sure they were safe and find out if they needed help.Wednesday’s quake was the worst to hit Taiwan in 25 years, damaging buildings and causing landslides. Images from Hualien, a city on the country’s east coast, showed a red brick building leaning at a 45-degree angle after its first floor collapsed. Large rocks tumbled down the side of mountains and blocked roads into the tourist destination of Taroko Gorge, trapping people at a hotel.Yet Hualien sustained surprisingly little damage for an earthquake of such magnitude. As of Monday, 13 people had died, and only one of them was killed due to building damage. Most of the others were hit by falling rocks. Ten people are still missing and more than 1,000 were injured.The low loss of life is attributed to Taiwan’s earthquake preparedness, as the government improved and reinforced building codes after a deadly earthquake in 1999 killed 2,400 people. Public education on earthquakes is widespread, and disaster relief groups are well-trained and respond quickly. ...Continue reading...

“We're not being political. We're just trying to get you what you need.”Palm Sunday looked different this year for a small majority-immigrant church in Fort Worth. For part of the service, the pastors invited an immigration lawyer to speak about what to expect if Texas enacts a new law that authorizes the state to arrest and deport migrants.“There is a lot of fear in our church in regard to this law and a lot of uncertainty. … What does it mean? How does it affect their cases?” asked Anyra Cano, one of the pastors.The congregation, mostly first-generation immigrants from Latin America, “knows they can come to us when they have those kinds of questions,” she added.Texas’ Senate Bill 4 (SB 4) comes as the latest salvo amid long-standing tensions between Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over the nation’s immigration enforcement.Last year, over 2.4 million people sought to cross the US-Mexico border. Texas (like other Republican-governed states) has tried to respond by taking matters into its own hands. Abbott signed SB 4 into law in December, making illegal border-crossing not just a federal offense but a state crime.Currently, the bill is tied up in court—a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that SB 4 will remain on hold.The law would allow Texas police to question and detain anyone they suspect of illegally crossing the US-Mexico border. Though SB 4 doesn’t allow arrests in schools, places of worship, or health care facilities, even the possibility of brushes with police officers with deportation power has raised concerns for immigrant communities in Texas—and for the Christian leaders who serve them.Many of the attendees at Cano’s church do have some kind of status, albeit perhaps not a more permanent ...Continue reading...

I served on the RZIM board. Christians in many leadership roles can learn from my failures.The room was hot, and I stared at the pristine white table in front of me, being careful not to lift my eyes, my muscles tense. To my left were members of the International Board of Directors of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), seated at the table and joining on video. To my right were lawyers. One of them was preparing to read to us the 12-page report of a months-long investigation into sexual assault allegations regarding the ministry’s founder, Ravi Zacharias.The tension was palpable. The boardroom seemed too dim, although that suited the mood; some of us weren’t ready for bright lights.My experience as an RZIM board member would completely change the way I view ministry today. I believe many ministry boards are broken—or at least deeply unprepared for the challenges they may face—and my aim is to start a conversation on how that can be remedied.When I speak of “boards,” I’m using the term broadly. You and people you know may not serve on the board of an internationally known nonprofit, like RZIM at its peak. But you may serve on your congregation’s elder board, as a deacon, or as a member of the vestry or the pastoral search committee. You may advise your children’s Christian school or informally help steer a local food bank or the Sunday School planning committee at church.The hard lessons I learned will be applicable to almost any kind of group leadership arrangement, especially in ministry contexts but also more broadly. That said, specific needs and circumstances will vary, so I’m sharing my lessons as questions that Christians in board leadership should seriously ask themselves and their colleagues.Continue reading...

On an island where Buddhist disaster relief is prominent, Christians work with churches to care for children and families.When a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit the east coast of Taiwan Wednesday morning, Carissa Wang, branding communication director of World Vision Taiwan, was on the Taipei subway on her way to work. She felt the carriage sway more than usual, and then it stopped at the next station as an announcement alerted passengers that service had ended due to an earthquake.Wang and her World Vision colleagues immediately began putting disaster relief protocols into action, assembling their emergency team and reaching out to local government officials to coordinate relief at evacuation centers. World Vision social workers also began to contact the 3,000 sponsored children and their families in the epicenter of Hualien to make sure they were safe and find out if they needed help.Wednesday’s quake was the worst to hit Taiwan in 25 years, damaging buildings and causing landslides. Images from Hualien, a city on the country’s east coast, showed a red brick building leaning at a 45-degree angle after its first floor collapsed. Large rocks tumbled down the side of mountains and blocked roads into the tourist destination of Taroko Gorge, trapping people at a hotel.Yet Hualien sustained surprisingly little damage for an earthquake of such magnitude. As of Monday, 13 people had died, and only one of them was killed due to building damage. Most of the others were hit by falling rocks. Ten people are still missing and more than 1,000 were injured.The low loss of life is attributed to Taiwan’s earthquake preparedness, as the government improved and reinforced building codes after a deadly earthquake in 1999 killed 2,400 people. Public education on earthquakes is widespread, and disaster relief groups are well-trained and respond quickly. ...Continue reading...