Don’t Worry

We are living in an age of anxiety. Not only do older adults have a sense of uneasiness about life, but also young people are afflicted with this feeling. According to one national poll, when asked the question, “What is the basic feeling you have toward life?” sixty percent of the young people polled replied, “Fear.” Jesus commands believers not to be anxious about the future. We do not need to be anxious about what lies ahead because of who we are and because of Who God is.

Biblical Foundation for Victorious Christian Living

There is a great deal of confusion today regarding what is involved in victorious Christian living and what makes it possible. Some of the answers being given out are plainly wrong, and many others are only partially true. It will be in the teaching of the Scriptures that God’s answers will be found. It is not possible in this brief treatment to mention everything which could be said, but a framework will be developed to note God’s wonderful provisions for us in this area of victorious Christian living.

Third Generation Christians

“And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel” Joshua 2:10. Regarding those who may be described as third generation Christians, they appear that way not so much by numerical succession as by attitude. A fifth generation believer may maintain the freshness of his salvation and discovery. A second generation believer may leave the convictions of his parents, take everything for granted, and thereby compress decades of Christian experience into a fraction of a lifetime.

Ministry After “The Shelf”

A young pastor proposes new programs in his first church. Some follow his leadership, but others resist change. After two years, the congregation “blows up” and the pastor is forced to resign. His early dreams of ministry have been shattered. He feels he has been “laid on the shelf.” He finds a new job selling life insurance. A senior pastor, respected by many for his sermons on marriage and the home, finds little time to nurture his own family. Suddenly, his congregation finds him gone, having taken the church organist with him.

Faith Baptist Seminary…A Distinctive Graduate School!

“Seminaries are all alike. They all prepare students for Christian ministries, so it really makes little difference where you attend seminary.” These statements represent the way some people respond to the idea of seminary training. It is true, seminaries do have many things in common and yet they are very distinct from one another. You do not choose a seminary because of location but because of its distinctives that will meet your academic and ministry goals. All seminaries are the same in that they are graduate schools, dedicated to preparing men and women for Christian ministries.

What Killed the Idealism?

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me (Luke 9:23). There are those among us who remember the state of the churches about the end of World War II. The veterans were coming back, seeking home, jobs and education. Youth movements, notably Youth for Christ, Young Life and Hi B-A, were reaching crowds of high school people. With admitted help from the G.I.

Hearing the Call of God

The larger question asks, “Is there a specific and individual will of God for my life?” Equally controversial and debated is the related question which we wish to address: “Is there a specific and individual call by God to serve Him vocationally—a call to the ministry?” True, some have abused an affirmative response to these questions, but we shouldn’t dismiss or disown doctrine because of this. We need to see what God’s Word says. As we approach the Scriptures to seek an answer to these questions, two issues of major importance surface: First, is the leading of God in my life ever subjective (inward, related to my personal experience) as well as being objective (outward, related to clear instruction from God in Scripture), or is His leading only objective?

Why Support the Local Church?

All sorts of religious organizations vie for our support today. While they may not wish to diminish the importance of the local church, they often run the risk of becoming competitive with it as they seek our time, talents and treasures. And in contrast with their glowing reports of what the Lord is doing through them, one’s experience with a local church may be disheartening. In such a time of discouragement we often tend to become slack in our attendance, withdraw our financial support and become less involved in its ministry.

Seeing Answers to Our Prayers

One cannot read widely about our Christian heritage without being impressed with the important place of fervent prayer in launching movements and spiritually sustaining great men and women of God in the past. Major periods of revival and evangelistic activity have usually been preceded by times of earnest prayer. Yet today we seem to find little time to spend in prayer. We are preoccupied with others things. We deceive ourselves by speaking of the quality of our prayers and not their quantity.