A self-check for Christians

I needed to read this prayer today. I need to pray this prayer today, and revisit it and revoice it regularly. If you identify as a Christian, I encourage you to do the same. It’s hard to believe these came from the pen of Phillip Doddridge, who died in 1751, almost 275 years ago! A…

Do actions speak louder than words?

We’ve just started studying Paul’s letter to the church of the Thessalonians in our small group, now in our third week.  Paul has just told them how he thanks God for them, and then gives a few reasons why.  If you want to read what he has to say about them, you can do that…

Who do you celebrate at Easter?

I was reading through a portion of Jeremiah on Thursday in my scheduled reading through God’s word, and that included chapter 7.  As I read through, I came upon a phrase that I had never given too much thought to before, but when I finished the text for the day I went back to try…

Alexander’s Day

I bought a new book for our super readers in Kindergarten and thought it might be appropriate for some today.  This was a favorite of our kids growing up – yes, it’s that old.  It was published in 1972! Listen and maybe even commiserate if you need to. I find it interesting that Ms. Viorst…

Why Go to Church?

I was going back through some notes on a book I read and found this great list of reasons why we need to go to church.  The book was “On Worship1” by H.B. Charles, Jr., and if you’re interested, you can get it here. Here is Charles’ list of twenty-five reasons you should regularly participate…

Faith’s Review and Expectation

John Newton wrote many hymns over his lifetime. In the collection “John Newtown’s Olney Hymns” there are 348 quoted in three separate sections. We celebrated the 250th anniversary of his most famous, and probably the favorite hymn over the ages in 2023, that being “Amazing Grace.” The Americanized version, the one most of us have…

Do you know the truth?

“YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON your knowledge of the gospel. Not just your life now, though that is certainly true, but your eternal life depends on your knowledge of the gospel. Are you ready? Do you know the gospel so well that you will stake your life on it? “If someone claimed to be a representative…

Ivory Palaces

My father would have turned 99 today. I started this post in March of 2022, and thought it was finally time to finish it. Dad’s favorite hymn was Ivory Palaces. If we had an opportunity to choose a favorite song at church, invariably Dad would raise his hand and request “Ivory Palaces, please.” I’m sure…

A new favorite song

As I was listening to a newly purchased collection from Cardiphonia on the psalms, I came to the end, the last song in the collection.  According to the notes, it didn’t really belong in this collection, but was added capriciously.  I guess I’m glad they added it.  It picks up some themes seen in the…

When He was on the Cross, I was on His Mind

I’ve cross-posted this sermon here, because of difficulties on the faithbaptistupnorth.org site.  As soon as those are resolved, it will be posted there as well, back to normal. Pastor Basham opens God’s word today and takes us all through it to explain God’s plan of salvation for us.  You’ll want to have your bible open,…